Liberal  Judaism  and 
Social  Service 


HARRY  S.  LEWIS,  M.A. 


A 


NEW  YORK 
BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

"The  Jewish  Book  Concern" 


^^WWMw/^fm^/wfwiw/w/wfw/w/wt'W^^^ 


THE  LEWISOHN  LECTURES,    1913 


LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND 
SOCIAL  SERVICE 


BY 

HARRY  S.   LEWIS,   M.  A. 

Joint  Author  of  "  The  Jew  in  London  " 


Issued  Jointly  for 

The  Eastern  Council  of  Reform  Rabbis 
and  the  Free  Synagogue 


NEW   YORK 

BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
1915 


Copyright.  1915 
Eastern  Conference  of  Reform  Rabbis 


Stack 
Annex 

en 


CONTENTS 

P««e 

Introduction             .....  5 

I.  The  New  Covenant .             .             .  .  13 

II.  Some  Biblical  Concepts  of  Social  Duty  .  33 

III.  Some  Rabbinic  Concepts  of  Social  Duty  .  59 

IV.  Jewish  Charity  in  The  Middle  Ages  .  85 

V.  Jewish  Social  Service  of  Today         .  .  109 

VI.  The  City  of  God  .139 


INTRODUCTION 

The  theme  of  these  lectures  is  liberal  Judaism  in  its 
relation  to  social  service.  I  shall  attempt  to  treat  from 
a  standpoint  frankly  sectional  a  subject  of  universal  in- 
terest. Jews  are  a  small  minority,  liberal  Jews  are  a 
minority  of  that  minority,  whilst  every  sane  thinker, 
whatever  be  his  race  or  creed,  realizes  the  need  for  a 
deeper  sense  of  human  fellowship.  It  is  a  pressing  ques- 
tion for  every  religionist  whether  the  faith  to  which  he 
is  attached  supplies  this  need.  Accordingly  the  Jew  is 
led  to  inquire  whether  Judaism  makes  him  and  his  co- 
religionists more  serviceable  members  of  the  human  fam- 
ily. Such  an  inquiry  bristles  with  difficulties,  for  it  in- 
volves not  only  a  knowledge  of  facts  but  the  power  to 
interpret  them.  It  is  hard  enough  to  form  a  dispassionate 
estimate  of  the  share  taken  by  the  members  of  our  race 
in  the  world  of  labor,  of  business,  of  thought,  of  philan- 
thropy and  of  public  service;  but  our  perplexities  are 
multiplied  when  we  ask  ourselves  how  far  their  merits 
and  demerits  in  the  pursuit  of  these  activities  are  caused 
or  conditioned  by  their  Judaism.  Perhaps  the  average 
Jew  ought  to  be  a  thorough  Jew  all  the  time,  but  he  is 
certainly  nothing  of  the  kind ;  he  is,  for  better  or  worse, 
modified  if  not  transformed  by  his  environment.  Fur- 
ther we  must  bear  in  mind  that  there  is  a  distinction  to  be 
drawn  between  the  Jewishness  of  the  Jew  and  his  Ju- 
daism, that  is  to  say,  between  his  instinctive  racial  pe- 
culiarities and  the  religious  principles  which  consciously 

5 


6        LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

mould  his  life.  In  order  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  the 
value  of  Judaism  as  a  force  that  promotes  the  salvation 
of  society  we  must  study  it  as  it  exists  in  action  here 
and  now — in  action  on  the  macrocosm,  and  in  action 
on  that  microcosm,  which  is  you  or  I.  What  is  Judaism 
doing  for  and  with  our  fellow  Jews?  What  is  its  in- 
fluence as  a  leaven  which  works  within  our  own  hearts? 
We  must  not  anticipate  satisfaction — certainly  not  self- 
satisfaction — from  truthful  answers  to  such  searching 
questions.  Yet  it  may  be  that  we  shall  learn  not  only 
the  present  achievements  and  failures  of  Judaism  but 
also  its  potentialities  to  inspire  men  and  women  with 
faith  and  zeal  in  the  service  of  their  fellows,  so  that 
the  crooked  may  be  made  straight  and  the  rough  places 
plain. 

Thus  our  inquiry  into  Judaism  as  a  force  that  makes 
for  social  righteousness  involves  an  examination  of  the 
present  and  a  forecast  of  the  future.  But  the  present 
and  future  of  Judaism  are  unintelligible  without  a  care- 
ful and  loving  study  of  its  past.  Ours  is  an  historical 
religion,  whose  soul  came  to  it  from  afar ;  it  has  changed 
greatly,  but  it  retains  its  identity.  A  modern  reform 
temple  is  a  very  different  place  from  the  Temple  of 
Solomon,  but  the  same  Decalogue  is  the  central  feature 
of  both.  Modern  philanthropy  and  social  service  rest 
on  fundamental  principles,  enunciated  long  ago  by  the 
heroes  of  Bible  and  Talmud.  So  also  the  study  of 
Hebrew  institutions,  as  they  existed  at  various  stages 
of  our  long  history,  will  show  how  permanent  are  the 
needs  of  humanity  in  general  and  of  Israel  in  particular. 
The  characteristic  Jewish  nose  appears  already  in  the 


INTRODUCTION  7 

portrayal  of  Jehu's  servants  on  an  Assyrian  monument ; 
our  mental  and  moral  peculiarities  have  probably  been 
just  as  persistent.  To  understand  the  social  message  of 
Judaism,  we  must  search  the  Scriptures  and  our  post- 
biblical  literature,  for  the  books  of  a  people  not  only 
register  their  existing  ideals  but  give  birth  to  new  ones. 

We  shall  doubtless  find  important  differences  between 
the  present  and  the  past.  In  modern  times,  many  a  line 
of  demarcation  between  Jew  and  Christian  has  been 
removed  in  the  spiritual  as  in  the  material  sphere.  Books, 
newspapers  and  the  common  school  have  proved  potent 
solvents  of  ancient  prejudices.  Nowadays  Jewish  and 
Christian  pulpits  teach  much  the  same  system  of  social 
ethics;  outworn  theological  conceptions  are  repudiated 
or  quietly  ignored  and  modern  ideas  take  their  place. 
Hence  it  follows  that  modern  Judaism  is  not  drawn 
exclusively  from  Jewish  sources ;  we  have  learned  to 
welcome  truth  wherever  we  find  it.  Not  that  this  open- 
mindedness  is  an  altogether  new  thing  in  Israel ;  for  the 
Hebrew  spirit;  as  represented  by  its  most  influential 
exponents,  has  never  been  an  uncompromising  foe  of 
Hellenism  or  of  any  other  system  of  alien  doctrine.  But 
the  new  thought  of  today  has  given  Judaism  opportu- 
nities to  develop  upon  a  scale  hitherto  impossible.  We 
no  longer  recognize  an  absolute  distinction  between  in- 
spired and  uninspired  literature.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures 
do  not  exhaust  all  truth ;  they  are  "for  guidance,  not  for 
dominion  over  the  spirit."1  Thus  the  way  is  opened 


!Gustav   Gottheil   in  Judaism  at   the   World's  Parliament   of 
Religions,  p.  30. 


8        LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

for  our  recognition  of  revelation,  as  a  process  at  work 
yesterday,  today  and  forever.     "God  is  not  dumb,  that 
He  should  speak  no  more."    He  speaks  through  modern 
sages  and  poets,  as  he  did  of  old  through  Isaiah  and  the 
Psalmists.     In  addition  to  the  old  Bible,  we  reverence 
the  Bible  ever  new  whose  inspired  authors  are  the  great 
and  good  of  all  races  and  all  ages.     Its  opening  words 
were  written  at  the  dawn  of  history  and  it  ends  with 
blank  pages  which  are  open  to  receive  the  messages  of 
teachers  yet  to  be.     The  social  teaching  of  liberal  Ju- 
daism is  derived  not  only   from  Jewish  literature  but 
from  every  book  which  has  added  to  the  sum  of  sav- 
ing knowledge  or  which  touches  the  conscience  and  in- 
spires us  to  help  our  fellow  men. 

And  in  another  sense  we  have  learned  to  take  a  wider 
view  than  that  which  was  possible  to  our  fathers.  For 
us,  social  service  means  the  service  of  all  mankind  with- 
out distinction  of  race  and  creed.  Judaism  was  never 
destitute  of  universalist  elements.  The  highest  doctrine 
of  our  Scriptures  included  the  notion  that  God  is  the 
father  of  all  men,  that  He  cares  alike  for  all  His  chil- 
dren and  that  He  will  lead  them  at  last  to  walk  in  His 
ways.2  This  same  sublime  teaching  appears  occasionally 
in  the  Talmud  and  in  mediaeval  Hebrew  literature.  But 
it  is  not  surprising  that  the  Jews  did  not  always  keep 
up  to  this  high  level  either  in  theory  or  practice.  After 
all,  their  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles  was 
not  calculated  to  promote  brotherly  love.  Accordingly 
they  considered  it  a  duty  to  act  with  justice  and  gen- 

2See  a  noble  passage  in  Montefiore's  Bible  for  Home  Reading 
Vol.  II,  pp.  772-773. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

erosity  towards  co-religionists  and  philo-semitic  Gen- 
tiles but  with  bare  justice  towards  others.3  In  ordinary 
cases,  almsgiving  to  Gentiles  was  only  held  to  be  in- 
cumbent, because  its  absence  would  have  aroused  hostil- 
ity. So  also  the  Messianic  hopes  of  our  ancestors  in- 
cluded the  triumph  of  hate  as  well  as  that  of  love.  In 
the  good  time  to  come,  the  persecutors  of  Israel  would 
perish.  The  wheel  would  come  full  circle.  Gentile  su- 
premacy would  end  and  God's  people  inherit  the  earth. 
The  hope  for  all  mankind,  that  is  involved  in  the  Mes- 
sianic ideas,  was  never  forgotten  but  it  became  some- 
what obscured;  the  expectation  of  a  national  triumph 
was  a  more  prominent  feature  in  the  consciousness  of 
mediaeval  Jews.  Small  blame  to  them  that  this  was  so. 
But  we  should  be  disgraced  indeed  if  the  happier  con- 
ditions of  today  had  not  induced  a  revulsion  of  feeling 
towards  our  brethren  of  other  nations.  This  beneficial 
change  has  certainly  taken  place  and  the  modern  Jew, 
with  all  his  faults,  seldom  lacks  something  of  that  broad 
humanitarian  sentiment  which  is  the  best  manifesta- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Indeed  there  is  a  real 
danger  that  the  Jew,  because  he  is  more  partial  to  the 
stranger,  may  befriend  his  brother- Jew  less.  This  should 
not  be.  We  are  not  worse  universalists,  if  our  efforts 
for  social  service  are  primarily  devoted  to  the  cause  of 


3In  David  Kimchi's  commentary  on  Psalm  15,  there  is  an 
instructive  note  on  this  subject.  He  remarks  that  to  lend  money 
without  interest  is  an  act  of  mercy.  The  Mosaic  Law  requires 
us  to  show  this  consideration  to  a  fellow-Israelite,  but  not  to 
a  gentile.  Yet  this  discrimination,  he  continues,  must  not  be 
exercised  in  lands  where  Jews  are  well  treated.  There  is  also 
some  Talmudic  authority  for  the  view  that  the  ideal  Jew  does 
not  exact  interest  from  a  non-Jew.  (Makkoth  24a.) 


10      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

our  kith  and  kin.  Many  of  us  feel  that  we  can  thus 
find  the  work  which  needs  us  most  and  which  we  are 
best  fitted  to  discharge.  Like  Moses,  when  he  grew  into 
young  manhood,  we  may  well  feel  the  call  to  go  out  unto 
our  brethren,  to  look  on  their  burdens  and  to  relieve 
them.  At  the  same  time,  social  workers  of  all  creeds  rec- 
ognize more  and  more  that  they  must  join  hands  as  cit- 
izens, as  lovers  of  their  kind,  as  children  of  the  all-father. 
To  fight  disease,  to  reduce  destitution,  to  promote  educa- 
tion, we  need  close  co-operation  between  all  existing  agen- 
cies, whatever  be  their  denominational  affiliations.  We 
need  this  co-operation  because  of  its  practical  utility ;  we 
need  it  also  so  that  we  may  be  inspired  to  do  our  duty  as 
co-workers  in  a  common  cause.  The  Jew,  who  has 
emerged  from  the  ghetto  into  the  ampler  atmosphere  of 
the  modern  world  should  not  fail  to  be  stirred  by  this 
wide  appeal.  He  will  not  be  less  responsive  to  the 
claims  of  his  own  race,  because  he  realizes  also  the  claims 
of  all  races.  He  will  understand  that  the  special  func- 
tion of  the  modern  Jew  is  to  show,  both  by  precept  and 
example,  that  the  principles  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets 
are  still  potent  to  transfigure  the  life  of  the  individual 
and  to  uplift  society.  According  to  the  measure  of 
his  talents  and  opportunities,  he  will  serve  his  genera- 
tion. He  will  serve  it  not  only  by  his  work  but  also 
by  his  hopefulness,  for  as  a  true  exponent  of  the  Hebrew 
spirit  he  will  be  an  incurable  meliorist.  He  will  hope 
wisely,  nobly,  unselfishly:  such  hopes  tend  to  bring 
about  their  own  fulfillment. 

Such  is  the  part  which  the  Jew  should  play  in  the 
modern  world.     Of  course,  no  one  actually  reaches  so 


INTRODUCTION  11 

high  a  level  of  achievement;  few  even  approach  it.  The 
idealist,  who  acts  up  to  his  ideals,  is  the  exception  in 
this  as  in  every  age.  The  modern  Jew,  indeed,  is  ex- 
posed to  peculiar  dangers.  The  race  for  wealth,  so 
characteristic  of  our  day,  the  greed  for  pleasure,  even 
the  inevitable  struggle  for  existence  are  foes  of  idealism. 
Nor  must  we  minimize  the  perils  that  have  accompanied 
Jewish  emancipation  and  the  break  up  of  orthodoxy.  In 
too  many  cases  the  result  has  been  spiritual  bankruptcy 
and  the  multiplication  of  Jewish  materialists — the  worst 
of  all  materialists  as  they  have  been  called — self -cen- 
tered, self-complaisant,  self-indulgent.  Yet  there  is  nc 
occasion  for  despair.  Judaism  lives,  as  it  has  always 
lived,  in  its  idealists,  who  are  as  genuine  now  as  ever 
they  were.  Idealism  sometimes  deceives  itself  in  part ; 
indeed  the  simultaneous  fulfilment  of  all  ideals  is  incon- 
ceivable, because  they  are  so  divergent.  But  the  search 
after  God  and  the  good  never  goes  unrewarded ;  some 
new  aspect  of  truth  always  emerges.  The  Jewish  socialist 
may  repudiate  the  God  of  Israel  and  the  very  name  of 
Judaism,  but  he  shows  himself  true  to  the  principles 
of  our  ancient  prophets,  when  he  denounces  social  in- 
justice. His  separate  proposals  for  the  reconstruction  of 
society  may  be  impossible,  but  his  dream  of  a  better 
ordered  world  will  one  day  be  realized.  Zionist  schemes 
for  the  rejuvenation  of  the  Hebrew  nation  may  or  may 
not  be  sound;  but  the  deeper  sense  of  Jewish  solidarity 
which  has  already  resulted  from  the  movement  cannot 
but  do  good.  We  might  concede  that  liberal  Judaism 
was  as  unjewish  (whatever  be  the  meaning  of  that  ques- 
tion-begging epithet)  as  the  most  bitter  of  its  opponents 


allege ;  but  abiding  blessing  must  result  from  a  movement, 
which  represents  an  earnest  and  self-sacrificing  effort  to 
reinterpret  Judaism  in  terms  of  the  modern  spirit,  so 
that  we  may  have  a  heightened  God-consciousness  and  be 
inspired  to  lead  lives  of  vigorous  and  joyous  service. 

Service — that  is  the  Leitmotiv  of  the  idealisms,  which 
are  dominant  in  modern  times.  I  have  named  three 
forms  of  idealism — socialism,  Zionism  and  liberal  Ju- 
daism— that  now  affect  different  sections  of  the  Jewish 
race.  The  humanitarian  impulse  is  strong  in  all  of 
them,  even  in  Zionism,  which  appeals  primarily  to  racial 
feeling  but  derives  much  of  its  strength  from  the  desire  of 
many  Jews,  who  are  themselves  free  from  molestation,  to 
secure  a  haven  of  rest  and  security  for  their  oppressed 
brethren.  As  for  liberal  Judaism,  its  most  urgent  duty,  as 
I  shall  try  to  show,  is  to  preach  that  religion  in  action 
finds  its  highest  expression  in  the  service  of  man.  In 
this  respect  at  least,  it  will,  if  true  to  itself,  be  true  also 
to  the  genuine  traditions  of  the  Hebrew  race. 


LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL 
SERVICE 

i 

THE  NEW  COVENANT 

The  Jewish  prayer-book  for  the  Day  of  Atonement 
contains  a  beautiful  passage  about  the  contrast  between 
mortal  man  and  eternal  God.  "Man  comes  from  the 
dust  and  returns  thither.  He  gets  his  bread  at  the  peril 
of  his  life.  He  is  like  the  brittle  bowl,  the  fading  grass, 
the  withering  flower,  the  passing  shadow,  the  melting 
cloud,  the  fluttering  wind,  the  fleeting  dream.  But  Thou, 
O  God,  art  eternal;  Thou  art  King  everlasting."  Tri- 
umphant is  this  thought  of  an  enduring  purpose,  which  re- 
mains constant  in  a  world  of  flux  and  flow.  The  great 
affirmation  is  to  affirm  the  eternities.  If  the  belief  in 
a  personal  God  disappeared,  the  moral  world  would  still 
abide,  although  human  endeavor  would  lose  some  of  its 
elasticity  and  joyousness.  But  suppose  our  modern  im- 
moralists  persuaded  us  that  virtue  \was  a  matter  of 
fashion  or  personal  taste  and  that  the  concept  of  eternal 
righteousness  was  an  idle  dream.  Then  indeed  the  light 
of  the  world  would  be  eclipsed  and  man  would  walk 
in  darkness.  In  the  physical  world,  we  cannot  set  things 
going  without  a  fixed  point  of  support.  So  is  it  in  the 
moral  world,  but  there  the  evidence  of  the  senses  fails 
us  and  we  can  but  rely  upon  our  spiritual  experiences, 
through  which  the  triumphs  of  faith  are  verified.  Thus 
does  the  clinging  soul  learn  to  rely  upon  the  everlasting 
arms  which  uphold  it. 

13 


14      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

But  now  comes  the  tragedy.  The  subject  matter  of 
faith  relates  to  the  eternities,  but  forms  of  faith  are  local 
and  temporary.  Religion  is  one,  but  religions,  past  and 
present  are  innumerable.  And  each  particular  system 
of  religion  is  itself  changing,  like  all  other  embodiments 
of  human  thought.  As  a  rule,  religious  development 
proceeds  slowly  and  only  manifests  itself  in  slight  al- 
terations of  doctrine  or  ritual.  But  now  and  then  there 
is  a  "day  of  the  Lord"  (to  use  a  favorite  phrase  of 
the  prophets)  when  men  discover  that  their  former  out- 
look upon  life  and  thought  has  been  transformed,  sc 
that  the  old  expressions  of  belief  appear  false  or  irrele- 
vant. Away,  cry  some  eager  spirits,  with  this  faith  of 
yesterday,  that  has  become  the  superstition  of  today ! 
But  men  will  not  lightly  abandon  their  faith  of  yesterday. 
They  love  it  as  their  ancestral  heritage;  it  is  to  many 
of  them  a  source  of  comfort  and  a  bulwark  of  virtue. 
Thus  religious  and  thoughtful  persons,  who  live  at  such 
an  epoch,  feel  that  they  stand  at  a  parting  of  the  ways. 
Shall  they  attempt  to  mediate  between  the  conflicting 
claims  of  old  and  new,  or  is  it  necessary  to  choose  the 
one  and  to  reject  the  other?  Such  is  the  position,  in 
which  liberal  religionists,  both  Jews  and  Christians,  stand 
today.  They  have  to  consider  whether  belief  in  the  old 
historical  religions  is  compatible  with  modern  thought. 
Is  the  liberal  Christian  truly  a  Christian,  and  the  lib- 
eral Jew  truly  a  Jew?  Do  we  want  a  new  religion  or 
shall  we  advance  along  the  old  paths,  which  our  fathers 
trod?  Let  us  consider  some  aspects  of  this  problem  in 
its  relation  to  our  own  people. 

Now  no  single  solution  of  our  spiritual  perplexities 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  15 

will  receive  universal  assent.  A  man's  religion  should 
sum  up  his  most  intimate  convictions ;  dearest  friend  and 
most  revered  adviser  cannot  define  it  for  him.  The  late 
Charles  Voysey  of  the  Theistic  Church  wrote  a  book 
upon  "Religion  for  All  Men,"  but  such  a  phrase  is  partly 
misleading,  for  our  deepest  knowledge  depends  not  only 
upon  the  ultimate  reality  of  the  thing  known  but  also 
upon  our  faculty  to  know  it.  Your  religion  and  mine., 
O  my  brother,  would  not  have  been  quite  the  same, 
although  we  had  lived  in  the  so-called  age  of  faith, 
when  men  and  women  were  expected  to  take  everything 
for  granted.  Still  less  shall  we  be  in  absolute  agreement 
in  this  restless  twentieth  century,  when  the  doubting 
spirit  is  abroad  and  authority  is  no  longer  permitted  by 
free  men  and  women  to  be  the  despot  of  their  inner 
life.  Yet  an  interchange  of  spiritual  experiences  between 
man  and  man  is  always  helpful;  still  more  so  between 
Jew  and  Jew.  Ultra-orthodox  Jews  and  ultra-liberals 
often  feel  the  same  religious  difficulties  and  may  learn 
from  one  another.  Perhaps  therefore  some  thoughts 
about  the  social  and  ethical  aspects  of  our  faith,  which 
have  relieved  the  perplexities  of  the  present  speaker, 
may  help  others  to  feel  that  what  we  need  is  not  a 
new  religion  but  rather  Judaism  made  new. 

My  plea  is  for  a  view  of  Judaism,  in  which  the  old 
and  the  new  are  harmoniously  blended.  Some  may 
perhaps  suggest  that  such  a  conception  is  an  unsatis- 
factory compromise,  invented  by  modern  latitudinarians, 
who  are  halting  between  two  opinions.  Not  so.  At 
every  stage  in  its  history,  Judaism  would  have  languished 
in  the  absence  of  new  thought  and  new  ideals.  The 


16      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

prophets  above  all  were  eager  reformers  of  contempo- 
rary orthodox  religion,  as  modern  Biblical  scholars  have 
clearly  demonstrated.  I  feel  indeed  that  I  can  best  treat 
this  part  of  my  subject  by  quoting  and  explaining  Jere- 
miah's grand  utterance  concerning  the  new  revelation 
which  he  felt  to  be  imminent.  Although  he  had  in  mind 
the  religious  needs  of  his  own  age,  he  spoke  with  such 
spiritual  insight,  that  his  words  express  or  imply  an  ever 
living  message  for  the  guidance  of  distant  generations 
The  passage  runs  as  follows: 

"Behold  the  days  come,  saith  Yahweh,  when  I  will 
make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel  and  with 
the  house  of  Judah.  *  *  *  I  will  put  My  law  in 
their  inward  parts  and  in  their  heart  will  I  write  it ;  and 
I  will  be  their  God  and  they  shall  be  My  people;  and 
they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  Yahweh:  for  they 
shall  all  know  Me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the 
greatest  of  them,  saith  Yahweh."  *  *  *  (Jer.  Ch.  31, 
w.  31,  33,  34). 

This  passage  is,  of  course,  celebrated  through  its  prom- 
inence in  the  history  of  Christianity.  Jeremiah's  "new 
covenant"  has  given  rise  to  the  familiar  "new  testament" 
by  a  verbal  substitution  due  to  the  Septuagint,  which 
preferred  to  render  the  Hebrew  b'rith  as  a  testament  i.  e. 
a  grant,  given  by  God's  free  grace,  rather  than  as  a 
compact  between  two  parties,  conceived  as  co-equals. 
The  Christian  church,  after  some  preliminary  hesita- 
tion, decided  that  the  "new  testament"  had  superseded 
its  predecessor  for  "that  which  is  becoming  old  and 
waxeth  aged  is  nigh  unto  vanishing  away"  (Hebrews 
8:13).  But  Jeremiah  certainly  intended  to  suggest  no 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  17 

such  antithesis  as  that  which  is  drawn  by  Christians  be- 
tween law  and  gospel.  The  new  covenant,  of  which  he 
had  a  vision,  was  to  have  the  same  content  as  the  old 
one.  He  warned  his  people  to  walk  in  the  good  old 
paths,  wherein  they  would  find  rest  for  their  souls.1  But 
this  rest  could  not.  in  his  judgment,  be  obtained  by 
ceremonial  observances.  The  pre-exilic  prophets  were 
all  indifferent  or  hostile  to  ritual,  but  Jeremiah  more  sc 
than  the  others,  for  he  denied  the  efficacy  and  divine 
origin  of  the  whole  sacrificial  system,  and  doubtless  con- 
sidered that  the  ordinances  extant  upon  this  subject  were 
among  the  forgeries  which  had  been  fabricated  by  the 
lying  pen  of  the  scribes.2  The  duty  of  Israel  was  not 
to  be  discharged  by  punctiliousness  in  ritual  but  by  the 
knowledge  of  God.  The  mark  of  the  new  age  would 
be  that  all  men,  small  and  great,  should  possess  this 
knowledge. 

How  then  did  Jeremiah  suppose  that  man  can  know 
God? 

The  prophet  answers  this  question  for  us  in  the  de- 
scription which  he  gives  of  the  good  king  Josiah.  The 
latter  ate  and  drank  (i.  e.  he  enjoyed  the  good  things 
of  this  world),  but  he  also  "did  judgment  and  justice. 
Then  it  was  well  with  him.  He  vindicated  the  cause 
of  the  poor  and  needy;  then  it  was  well.  Was  not  this 


ijer.  6:16. 

2Jer.  7:21-22;  8:8.  In  Jer.  33:18,  the  restoration  of  sacri- 
fices is  predicted  as  a  feature  of  the  good  time  to  come.  This 
passage  must  be  from  another  hand.  The  authenticity  of  Jer. 
17:19-27,  in  which  great  stress  is  laid  upon  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath,  has  also  been  questioned,  but  with  less  apparent 
reason. 


18      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

to  know  me?  saith  Yahweh."  (Jer.  22:15-16).  The 
pursuit  of  social  righteousness,  the  prophet  would  say. 
leads  man  to  know  God.3  In  our  days,  the  opponents 
of  liberal  religion  are  accustomed  to  decry  it  as  "mere" 
morality,  which  neglects  the  contemplative  and  institu- 
tional sides  of  religion.  This  criticism  may  be  partly 
justified,  for  it  is  difficult  to  emphasize  one  aspect  of 
truth  without  underestimating  others.  But  if  it  be  a 
fault  to  identify  the  knowledge  of  God  with  zeal  for 
righteousness,  it  is  a  fault  on  the  right  side  and  one  to 
which  Jeremiah  would  have  pleaded  guilty  with  an  easy 
conscience.  Let  no  man,  the  prophet  tells  us,  glory  in 
his  wisdom,  his  physical  strength  or  his  riches,  but  only 
in  his  knowledge  of  God  as  the  author  of  loving  kindness, 
judgment  and  righteousness.4 

Thus  the  old  and  the  new  covenants,  according  to 
Jeremiah,  both  provided  that  Yahweh  would  be  Israel's 
God  and  would  protect  them,  provided  that  their  life 
was  virtuous  and  therefore  godlike.  In  what  way  then 
did  the  new  covenant  differ  from  the  old  one?  Accord- 
ing to  the  Jewish  commentator,  David  Kimchi,  the  old 
covenant  was  forcibly  imposed  upon  the  Israelites  and 
was  violated  by  them,  whereas  the  new  one  would  be 
written  on  their  hearts,  ever  remembered  and  ever  cher- 
ished. This  view  of  the  prophet's  meaning  appears  to 
be  essentially  correct,  although  it  needs  some  expansion. 
When  the  new  covenant  between  God  and  his  people 


3There  is  a  similar  thought  in  Hosea  4:1,  where  the  prophet 
appears  to  identify  the  knowledge  of  God  with  truth  (i.  e., 
trustworthiness)  and  the  love  of  our  fellow  men. 

«Jer.  9:23. 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  19 

has  been  ratified,  the  law  divine  will  be  written  in  the 
human  heart,  that  is  to  say  it  will  become  part  of  every 
man's  nature — "a  principle  operative  from  within." 
(Driver).  Thus  understood,  Jeremiah's  doctrine  of  the 
new  covenant  is  of  great  practical  importance.  Not  only 
does  it  throw  light  upon  the  moral  development  of  the 
human  race,  but  it  shows  us  how  to  train  our  own  will 
so  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  live  the  good  life.  The 
one  thing  necessary  for  the  future  of  Judaism  is  that 
we  should  all  become  not  merely  "children  of  the  cov- 
enant" made  in  the  flesh,  but  "children  of  the  new  cov- 
enant," which  is  ratified  by  the  heart. 

What  was  the  old  covenant,  the  supersession  of  which 
Jeremiah  hoped  to  see?  It  was  a  covenant  that  rested 
on  fear.  It  threatened  offenders  against  the  law  with 
this  penalty  or  that  at  the  hands  of  God  or  man.  Such 
appeals  to  force  and  to  the  fear  of  force  are,  of  course, 
necessary  for  the  stability  of  society.  Some  men  would 
disregard  the  very  elements  of  decent  conduct,  unless 
they  feared  the  consequences  of  doing  so.  They  do  not 
steal,  lest  they  be  sent  to  prison;  they  carry  out  their 
contracts,  lest  they  be  mulcted  in  damages;  they  obey 
the  behests  of  public  opinion,  lest  they  suffer  social  os- 
tracism. What  is  our  judgment  of  such  persons?  Our 
first  thought  about  them  is  that  such  virtue  as  they  pos- 
sess is  extremely  insecure.  At  any  moment  they  may 
commit  a  convenient  act  of  wrong-doing,  if  they  think 
that  they  can  escape  the  watchful  eye  of  their  fellow- 
men.  Nor  is  the  fear  of  divine  retribution  a  more  ef- 
fective restraint.  On  the  contrary,  the  effect  is  so  re- 
mote from  the  cause,  that  most  men  will  hardly  realize 


20      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

it  "Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  ex- 
ecuted speedily,  therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men 
is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil."  (Eccl.  8:  11.)  And 
there  is  a  deeper  reason  why  fear  is  a  very  imperfect 
aid  to  virtue.  As  a  rule,  the  dread  of  punishment  is  a 
restraining  but  not  a  propulsive  force;  it  seldom  pro- 
duces an  act  of  positive  goodness  and  certainly  is  in- 
capable of  forming  the  higher  types  of  character.  Be- 
sides, the  man  who  does  right  through  fear,  makes  such 
show  of  virtue  as  he  possesses  contemptible.  We  feel 
instinctively  that  his  prudential  morality  is  no  morality 
at  all;  if  he  only  dared  he  would  commit  sins  of  un- 
speakable vileness.  Now  there  is  a  mean  devil  in  all 
of  us,  that  must  be  tamed  at  times  by  the  rod  of  terror, 
but  the  higher  side  of  our  nature  has  to  be  developed 
by  quite  other  means. 

Yet  the  reign  of  fear  has  been  an  indispensable  stage 
m  human  development.  Untaught  man  flees  from  the 
physical  dangers  which  he  knows  not  how  to  conquer; 
otherwise  his  life  would  be  forfeit.  Only  at  a  later 
stage  of  his  history  does  he  learn  to  face  peril  and  to 
overcome  it.  So  also  does  fear  promote  morality  in 
primitive  man,  who  is  restrained  from  the  commission 
of  anti-social  actions,  lest  he  incur  the  wrath  of  his  gods 
and  his  tribe.  Nor  can  fear  be  regarded  as  an  emotion, 
necessary  to  the  savage  and  the  would-be  criminal,  but  ly- 
ing outside  our  own  personal  experience.  "Fears  and  hopes 
accustom  man  to  right  conduct  and  thus  form  the  basis 
of  social  habit  which  is  the  actual  foundation  of  all  con- 
duct in  any  case,  and  the  necessary  prerequisite  for 
sound  reflection  upon  conduct  and  the  attainment  of 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  21 

any  higher  sense  of  morality."5  The  acts  which  we  fear 
to  do  we  cease  to  do  and  the  desire  to  perform  them 
ceases  in  consequence.  By  degrees,  the  undesired  action 
becomes  an  action  which  we  condemn.  Thus  our  moral 
sense  emerges.  We  no  longer  need  external  compulsion, 
for  our  conscience  exercises  upon  us  a  more  effective 
restraint.  Instead  of  doing  right  because  we  fear  to 
do  wrong,  we  do  right  because  we  feel  that  we  ought 
to  do  right.  Fear  is  replaced  by  reverence.  We  become 
afraid  not  of  divine  punishment  but  of  God  Himself, 
who  speaks  within  our  heart;  we  learn  to  feel  awe  of 
what  God  is,  rather  than  fear  of  what  he  might  do. 
The  new  covenant  is  coming  into  being. 

So  far  so  good,  but  more  is  required  of  us.  If  we  do 
right  from  a  mere  sense  of  duty,  it  cannot  be  said  that 
as  yet  the  law  of  God  has  been  written  in  our  hearts. 
The  conception  of  duty  almost  implies  that  of  reluctance. 
When  we  perform  a  spontaneous  act  of  virtue,  the  idea 
that  we  ought  to  do  it  hardly  shapes  itself  within  our 
minds:  there  is  no  divided  self  pulled  this  way  or  that, 
until  the  stern  voice  of  duty  issues  its  edict,  which  we 
dare  not  disobey.  The  perfect  life  of  man  is  that  in 
which  he  does  right  because  he  wants  to  do  right.  Not 
fear,  not  even  reverence,  but  love  has  become  the  law 
of  his  being.  He  loves  God  with  all  his  might  and  his 
neighbor  as  himself.  "He  does  God's  will  in  love  and 
rejoices  in  chastisement."6  His  desire  for  righteousness 
is  vital,  persistent,  passionate;  "he  bears  all  things,  be- 


5See  Schiller,  Humanism,  p.  255. 
6Yoma  23a. 


lieves  all  things,  hopes  all  things,  endures  all  things."7 
Such  is  the  ideal  man,  who  has  risen  to  the  height  of 
his  destiny.  It  is  certain  that  none  of  us  will  attain  to 
such  perfection,  but  we  are  poor  creatures,  unless  we 
struggle  towards  it.  Nor  will  our  efforts  go  unrewarded. 
Every  virtuous  deed  accomplished  will  make  virtue 
easier,  so  that  in  our  best  moments  we  shall  be  tuned 
into  harmony  with  the  divine  will.  Thus  through  us 
and  through  millions  like  us,  will  Jeremiah's  dream  of 
the  "new  covenant"  become  a  reality. 

Another  point  should  be  noted.  Under  the  new  cov- 
enant. God's  law  is  to  be  written  in  the  heart.  Now 
the  heart  (as  the  Talmud  already  remarks)8  was  con- 
sidered by  the  ancient  Israelites  to  be  the  seat  of  the  in- 
tellect: the  word  leb  (heart)  in  Hebrew  is  often  equiva- 
lent to  "brain"  in  English.  The  law  in  the  heart  is 
therefore  a  law,  approved  by  the  intellect ;  it  is  the  prod- 
uct of  independent  thought.  The  law  in  my  heart  or 
in  yours  is  far  from  being  the  whole  of  God's  law, 
but  just  so  much  of  it  as  each  of  us  can  master.  Thus 
my  religion  and  yours  can  never  be  exactly  the  same, 
although  they  may  resemble  each  other  so  closely,  that 
we  can  worship  together  and  unite  in  the  same  con- 
fession of  faith.  But  minds,  like  faces,  are  never  du- 
plicated ;  if  we  think  at  all  about  religion,  each  of  us  will 
follow  his  own  line  of  thought.  Commonplace  creatures 
though  we  are,  we  must  not  suppose  that  our  reflections 
and  heart-stirrings  are  empty  and  futile.  True  religion 


?1  Corinthians  13:7. 
«Berachoth  61a. 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  23 

is  always  in  the  making  and  we  shall  play  a  part,  how- 
ever small,  in  this  great  process,  if  our  spirit  is  attentive 
to  the  divine  promptings.  It  is  a  rare  moment  when 
a  great  teacher  arises  with  his  new  revelation  about 
God  and  goodness.  But  he  does  not  come  to  the  world 
as  an  isolated  phenomenon.  His  message  might  never 
have  formed  itself  within  his  consciousness,  had  it  not 
harmonized  with  the  thought  of  his  age;  he  would  not 
inspire  his  hearers  with  his  own  fervor  unless  he  gave 
utterance  to  thoughts  that  were  already  struggling  for 
expression  within  their  hearts.  The  prophetic  leader 
needs  a  prophetic  people;  the  new  covenant  must  be 
ratified  by  the  rank  and  file  in  the  army  of  the  Lord. 

Let  us  now  consider  another  difference  between  the 
old  and  the  new  covenants.  As  has  been  often  pointed 
out,  Jeremiah  was  the  founder  of  personal  religion,  for, 
unlike  the  older  prophets,  he  does  not  address  himself 
to  Israel,  as  an  organic  totality,  but  to  the  Israelite.  "In 
place  of  the  general  body  of  the  people  which  had  hitherto 
constituted  the  subject  of  religion,  the  individual  now 
comes  forward  with  his  claim  to  the  most  direct  per- 
sonal communion  with  his  God.  *  *  *  The  "new 
covenant"  can  blossom  and  bear  fruit  wherever  an  Israel- 
ite looks  up  to  his  God  with  a  grateful  and  trustful 
heart."9 

This  was  an  immense  service  to  spiritual  progress,  for 
it  enabled  the  religion  of  Israel  to  survive  the  ruin  of  the 
Hebrew  State.  Jeremiah  witnessed  the  break  up  of  the 
theocracy,  which  was  never  afterwards  to  be  re-estab- 


9Hastings,  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  Vol.  5,  p.  697  (Kautzsch). 


24      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

lished  except  during  the  brief  period  of  Maccabean  as- 
cendancy. Henceforward  the  ideal  of  national  righteous- 
ness became  to  Israel  a  far-off  dream,  that  could  only 
be  realized  when  Messiah  should  come.  But  the  proph- 
et's faith  was  unshaken.  He  proclaimed  that  Jahweh 
would  be  revealed  to  every  pious  Israelite  through  his 
own  spiritual  experience;  thus  every  devout  and  loving 
soul  would  know  its  God. 

Rauschenbusch  in  his  fine  book  on  "Christianity  and 
the  Social  Crisis"  has  shown  that  Jeremiah's  achievement 
involved  some  loss.  A  religion,  which  is  purely  individ- 
ualistic, is  one-sided.  The  true  scope  of  religion  in- 
cludes all  kinds  of  human  activity,  whether  exercised 
by  the  individual  or  by  society  as  a  whole.  No  spiritual 
faith  is  complete,  which  loses  touch  with  the  social  ideal. 
This  truth,  so  nobly  taught  in  the  nineteenth  century 
by  such  men  as  Kingsley  and  Ruskin,  is  realized  by  our 
finer  and  bolder  spiritual  leaders  of  today,  who  "carry 
the  religious  spirit  freely  into  the  discussion  of  public 
questions.  *  *  *  It  was  the  evidence  of  religious 
genius  when  Jeremiah  carried  religion  out  of  national  life 
into  the  experiences  of  the  suffering  individual  soul.  To- 
day it  is  evidence  of  spontaneous  religious  power  if  a 
man  can  carry  religion  from  private  experience  into 
national  life."10  Thus  Rauschenbusch  calls  upon  the 
Christian  church  to  awaken  the  social  conscience.  The 
synagogue  should  not  be  backward  in  the  performance 
of  the  same  high  duty.  Judaism  has  indeed  never  lost 
sight  of  the  social  aspects  of  religion.  In  our  liturgy, 
the  worshipper  identifies  himself  habitually  with  the  con- 


lORauschenbusch,  op.  cit.  p.  364.    See  also  pp.  27-32. 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  25 

gregation  of  Israel;  this  sense  of  solidarity  inspired  the 
lives  of  our  fathers,  as  well  as  their  prayers,  during  the 
long  night  of  persecution.  It  was  a  current  saying  that 
all  Jews  are  mutually  responsible  for  one  another.11 
In  every  centre  of  Jewish  population,  the  ecclesiastical 
heads  of  the  community  made  provision  for  the  relief 
of  suffering,  for  the  education  of  poor  children  and 
for  the  prevention  of  injustice  and  oppression  in  the 
business  life  of  their  co-religionists.  In  short,  the  life 
of  a  Jew,  as  a  social  unit,  was  fully  controlled  by  the 
synagogue,  until  the  time  of  his  civil  emancipation.  This 
state  of  things  has  now  ended.  The  Jew,  as  a  subject 
of  the  modern  State,  is  set  free  from  ecclesiastical  con- 
trol, and  the  most  intimate  relations  of  his  life  are 
regulated  by  the  secular  authorities.  If  he  resides  in  a 
democratic  country,  the  sphere  of  his  duties  has  been 
changed  still  further.  In  such  a  case,  it  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  obey  the  law  as  a  passive  subject,  he  is  ex- 
pected to  prove  himself  an  active  citizen,  who  tries  to 
form  a  correct  judgment  of  public  affairs,  so  that  he  may 
raise  his  voice  or  at  least  cast  his  vote  in  favor  of  good 
measures  and  good  men.  Jewish  ecclesiastical  leaders  no 
longer  put  forward  any  pretension  to  exercise  direct  au- 
thority in  secular  matters.  Yet  the  development  of  the 
synagogue,  if  its  function  be  rightly  understood,  may  well 
be  similar  to  that  of  the  English  throne,  which  has  lost 
its  coercive  power  but  acquired  an  increased  influence. 
Judaism  must  teach,  as  of  old,  that  all  civil  authority 
shall  be  exercised  on  religious  principles  and  that  the 

"Shebuoth  39a. 


26      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

members  of  the  chosen  race  are  in  honor  bound  to  be 
foremost  amongst  the  champions  of  political  and  so- 
cial Justice.  Jeremiah's  conception  of  the  tender  per- 
sonal relation  developed  between  the  individual  wor- 
shipper and  his  God  must  supplement  but  not  supplant 
the  grand  thought  of  many  another  teacher  in  Israel  that 
a  sound  national  life  can  only  be  based  upon  the  eternal 
principles  of  righteousness. 
***** 

Jeremiah's  theology,  like  that  of  all  the  Hebrew  proph- 
ets, is  very  simple.  He  teaches  that  Yahweh  is  the  cre- 
ator of  earth  and  sky,  the  ruler  of  the  nations,  the  hope 
of  Israel;  above  all,  that  He  is  a  perfect  moral  Being, 
the  God  of  justice  and  mercy.  And  the  prophet  would 
have  us  realize  that  we  should  strive  to  make  these  eth- 
ical attributes  our  own;  to  know  God  we  must  walk  in 
Hfis  ways.  To  repeat  my  former  quotation  from  Jere- 
miah's tribute  to  the  good  King:  "He  vindicated  the 
cause  of  the  poor  and  needy  *  *  *  Was  not  this  to 
know  Me?"  In  other  words,  the  service  of  man  leads 
to  the  knowledge  of  God. 

Now  there  are  many  varieties  of  experience  which 
bring  the  idea  of  God  into  the  human  consciousness. 
What  God  is  we  cannot  tell ;  we  must  be  content  to  know 
what  He  is  to  us.  This  assurance  comes  to  us,  above 
all,  in  moments  of  "perfect  disenthralment"12  from  our 
selfish  preoccupations,  when  we  lose  ourselves  in  the 
thought  of  all  that  is  divine  in  the  world  around  us.  The 
knowledge  of  God  comes  to  different  men  in  different 
ways.  Sometimes  he  reveals  Himself  to  us  through  our 


12"That  perfect  disenthralment  which  is  God." — Lowell. 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  27 

consciousness  of  the  beauty  and  the  wonder  of  Nature. 
The  student  may  become  aware  of  God  through  his  read- 
ing, the  philosopher  through  his  speculations.  To  others, 
God  speaks  through  poetry,  through  music,  through  pic- 
tures. The  sense  of  the  Divine  comes  to  many  a  devout 
soul  in  answer  to  prayer.  "The  Shechinah  rests  on  man 
at  times  of  duteous  joy,"13  declares  the  Talmud  and  it 
is  well  said.  But  sorrow  also,  when  rightly  used,  puri- 
fies men  and  brings  them  nearer  to  God.  The  very  tor- 
ments of  doubt  that  make  us  cry  "O  that  I  knew  where 
I  might  find  Him"  are  often  the  birth-pangs  of  a  faith 
more  vital  than  the  old.  "God,"  it  has  been  beautifully 
said,  "is  everywhere.  The  laughter  of  children,  the 
beauty  of  women  and  trees  and  hills,  the  affections  of 
home;  our  own  high  purposes,  the  honesty,  courage, 
heroism  of  our  fellows — a  thousand  daily  experiences  re- 
veal him."14  But  above  all,  through  love  for  men  our 
brothers  we  begin  to  realize  the  bonds  of  love  that  unite 
us  with  our  Father  in  Heaven  and  thus  gain  such  knowl- 
edge of  God,  as  is  possible  to  man. 

But  let  us  not  trust  overmuch  to  fine  phrases.  To 
love  mankind  in  the  abstract  may  mean  little  or  nothing. 
Vital  knowledge  of  God  depends  upon  our  love  for  the 
living  creatures  of  flesh  and  blood,  whom  we  know  and 
can  serve.  Such  love  must  be  first  shown  to  our  own 
nearest  and  dearest.  We  are  not  to  imitate  the  lady 
with  an  invalid  mother,  who  went  out  as  a  hospital 
nurse,  because  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  at  home. 


i3Shabbath  30b. 

14R.  L.  Bremner,  The  'Modern  Pilgrimage  from  Theology  to 
Religion,  p.  29. 


28      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Yet  there  are  other  spheres  of  love  besides  the  home. 
We  must  beware,  as  Wordsworth  tells  us,  of  selfishness 

"Disguised  in  gentle  names 
Of  peace  and  quiet  and  domestic  love." 

"Many  a  man,  in  his  affection  and  service  to  his 
family,  forgets  that  he  belongs  also  to  the  collective 
being;  that  he  cannot  without  guilt  sever  himself  from 
the  needs  of  his  parish,  of  his  nation,  of  his  race,  of 
the  poor,  of  the  miserable,  of  the  oppressed."  (Farrar.) 
It  is  true  that  we  cannot  love  all  men  equally.  On  the 
other  hand,  affection,  like  all  moral  qualities,  is  acquired 
by  practising  it ;  to  be  loving,  we  must  love.  By  showing 
kindness  to  all  about  us  we  shall  grow  in  warmth  of 
heart  and  in  breadth  of  sympathy,  until  love  becomes  the 
supreme  law  of  our  being.  So  shall  we  be  guided  towards 
the  knowledge  of  God.  The  loving  agnostic  has  a  bet- 
ter idea  of  the  divine  nature  than  has  the  unloving  re- 
ligionist. "We  become  united  to  God  not  by  mystical 
absorption  but  by  partaking,  whether  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, of  that  truth  and  justice  and  love  which 
He  Himself  is."  (Jowett.)  The  world's  greatest  need 
is  a  living  faith  in  goodness,  through  which  the  Source 
of  all  righteousness  will  be  revealed  to  the  hearts  of 
men. 

Shakespeare  has  said  of  mercy  that  it  blesses  him  that 
gives  and  him  that  takes.  This  thought  may  be  applied 
to  all  forms  of  social  service  that  are  carried  out  in 
the  right  spirit.  Those  who  perform  kindly  deeds  not 
only  bring  joy  into  the  lives  of  others  but  also  gain 
true  happiness  and  peace  of  mind,  such  as  the  self- 
indulgent  can  never  experience.  And  many  another  spir- 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  29 

itual  grace  is  added  to  them.  For  example,  social  serv- 
ice is  often  the  means  of  bringing  Jewish  indifferentists 
back  to  Judaism.  It  is  sometimes  argued  that  a  man 
who  has  not  joined  a  Jewish  congregation  has  forfeited 
the  right  to  be  considered  a  Jew.  This  is  a  hard  saying 
and  untrue.  Much  splendid  service  is  rendered  to  Jew- 
ish social  and  charitable  institutions  by  men  and  women 
who  have  become  estranged  from  the  synagogue.  They 
have  ceased  to  worship  the  God  of  Israel,  but  they  still 
feel  the  racial  consciousness,  which  impels  them  to  serve 
their  fellow- Jews.  Sometimes  this  feeling  is  the  result 
of  a  moribund  Judaism,  which  bids  fair  to  pass  away 
in  the  next  generation.  In  many  cases,  however,  it  has 
a  redemptive  force;  those,  who  have  been  active  in  the 
charitable  work  of  the  community,  often  return  to  the 
synagogue  afterwards.  Their  sense  of  brotherly  duty 
has  brought  them  home  at  last. 

We  rejoice  therefore  in  the  sense  of  obligation  that 
binds  Jew  to  Jew  through  fellowship  of  race,  as  we 
rejoice  in  the  wider  brotherhood  that  binds  man  to  man. 
But  we  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  misled  by  the 
spurious  liberalism  which  asserts  that  everything  de- 
pends on  deed  and  nothing  upon  belief.  A  man's  creed — 
the  formulary  of  belief  which  he  accepts  from  his  pas- 
tors and  masters — may  indeed  have  little  enough  to  do 
with  his  true  self,  but  a  vital  faith  in  God,  if  he  is  priv- 
ileged to  possess  it,  has  a  determining  influence  upon 
all  that  he  does  and  is.  Consider  particularly  the  case 
of  the  social  worker,  who  aims  to  help  the  careless,  slug- 
gish, ignorant  or  impure  to  make  a  better  use  of  life. 
If  he  is  a  believer  in  God,  he  has  a  mighty  weapon  at 


30      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

his  command.  It  is  true  that  the  success  of  his  efforts 
will  not  depend  upon  his  moral  admonitions,  which  are 
only  exceptional,  but  upon  his  personality,  which  will  be 
constantly  felt.  He  will  spend  himself  to  give  relief, 
education,  amusement  or  simple  friendship  to  the  neg- 
lected and  he  will  thus  show  them  the  loveliness  of  the 
good  life.  Yet  occasions  for  a  direct  moral  appeal  can- 
not be  entirely  absent  and  fortunate  is  the  social  worker 
who  is  conscious  of  a  message  to  be  spoken  in  the  name 
of  the  God  of  righteousness.  In  our  efforts  to  strength- 
en the  weak  against  temptation  and  to  make  them  feel 
that  virtue  is  worth  a  struggle,  more  can  be  achieved  by 
religious  faith,  which  depends  upon  the  love  for  a  Per- 
son, than  by  ethical  faith,  which  ultimately  requires  us 
to  love  an  abstraction.  Some  thoughtful  agnostics  them- 
selves regret  that  they  cannot  with  sincerity  appeal  to 
the  sanctions  of  religion  as  an  aid  to  social  work.  I 
have  heard  it  said,  from  this  standpoint,  that  the  weak 
and  ignorant  still  need  God  to  keep  them  straight,  al- 
though educated  men  and  women  can  be  virtuous  with- 
out personifying  the  principle  of  virtue.  But  such  a 
view  is  superficial.  Religion  benefits  not  only  those  who 
are  weak  but  those  who  think  themselves  strong;  it  is 
needed  by  the  reformer  as  well  as  by  those  whom  he 
wishes  to  reform.  Sooner  or  later,  we  are  apt  to  be- 
come disappointed  with  social  work,  unless  the  sense 
of  God's  presence  in  humanity  saves  us  from  fainting 
by  the  way.  A  purely  secular  outlook  on  life  appears 
unsatisfying  in  the  long  run.  This  fact  is  illustrated  by 
a  touching  passage  in  the  Autobiography  of  John  Stuart 
Mill,  assuredly  one  of  the  noblest  rationalists  who  have 


THE  NEW  COVENANT  31 

ever  lived.  He  once  asked  himself  whether,  supposing 
all  the  reforms  he  desired  were  attained  that  day,  he 
would  be  satisfied  or  happy  and  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  admit  that  he  would  not  be.  The  history  of 
reform  is  the  history  of  disappointment.  Again  and 
again  has  the  reformer  in  religion,  politics  or  education 
set  out  to  make  all  things  new,  but  the  result,  however 
salutary,  seldom  or  never  comes  up  to  his  original  ex- 
pectation. The  Messiah  is  always  coming,  but  he  never 
comes.  Utopia  has  often  been  born,  but  straightway 
it  dies.  We  survey  the  larger  stretches  of  time  and  behold 
"morning  cometh  but  also  night."  There  has  been  im- 
mense material  and  moral  progress  amongst  the  higher 
races  of  mankind,  but  crime,  degradation  and  destitu- 
tion arising  in  the  very  bosom  of  our  civilization,  still 
present  problems,  which  seem  insoluble  and  are  certainly 
unsolved.  And  so  we  are  assailed  by  doubts  as  to  the 
reality  of  progress.  May  it  not  be,  we  sometimes  ask 
ourselves,  that  humanity,  like  the  population  of  Anatole 
France's  "Penguin  Island"  will  double  back  upon  its 
traces  and  revert  to  barbarism  through  the  operation 
of  some  unknown  law.  How  shall  we  release  ourselves 
from  all  such  perplexities  about  ourselves,  our  fellow- 
men  and  the  future  of  the  world?  Whence  shall  our 
help  come?  The  only  satisfying  answer  is  that  of  the 
Psalmist:  Our  help  is  from  the  Lord,  who  maketh 
heaven  and  earth — from  the  Lord,  whose  purpose  may 
be  delayed,  but  come  it  will,  for  a  thousand  years  in 
His  sight  are  but  as  yesterday. 

How  fair  is  our  portion  and  how  goodly  our  heritage, 
if  this  faith  be  ours!     It  is  for  us  to  show  that  our 


32      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

trust  in  God  is  a  vital  force,  which  makes  us  labor  zeal- 
ously for  the  good  of  others.  So  shall  we  render  true 
service  to  man  and  through  that  service  we  shall  grasp 
the  meaning  of  life  and  the  knowledge  of  God. 


II 

SOME   BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL   DUTY 

We  used  to  be  taught  that  the  Bible  is  God's  book  and 
that  in  it  He  speaks  to  man.  This  is  a  childlike  rep- 
resentation, which  appears  inadequate  to  the  modern 
mind,  yet  it  suggests  more  than  one  important  truth.  It 
may  well  be  said  that  God  speaks  to  us  not  only  through 
the  Bible  but  through  every  national  literature,  which 
shows  us  how  a  people  was  inspired  to  fulfil  its  destiny 
for  its  own  benefit  and  ultimately  for  that  of  mankind. 
I  apply  this  statement  not  only  to  such  nations  as  Greece 
and  Rome,  whose  "words  have  gone  out  to  the  end  of 
the  world"  and  whose  services  to  mankind  are  univer- 
sally recognized,  but  even  to  the  detested  military  des- 
potisms of  antiquity.  The  records  of  Assyria's  military 
prowess,  of  Babylon's  commercial  expansion  and  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  all  prove  that  these  master 
nations  achieved  in  their  time  something  of  substance 
towards  the  development  of  civilization.  Ruthless  and 
cruel  they  were;  yet  they  were  the  first  to  teach  man- 
kind how  to  organize  for  a  common  cause,  how  to  bring 
order  out  of  chaos  and  how  to  establish  the  supremacy 
of  law.  Whilst  each  of  these  nations  flourished  it  was 
a  chosen  people;  the  ancient  inscriptions  of  its  kings 
have  this  much  in  common  with  the  Bible,  that  they  re- 
veal God,  as  He  fulfils  Himself  in  history.  We  may 
say  further  that  the  world's  best  literature,  ancient  and 
modern,  is  in  some  measure  sacred  to  us,  because  it 

33 


34      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

1 

gives  a  picture  of  humanity  struggling  upwards  towards 
the  light  and  of  God,  who  does  not  leave  Himself  with- 
out a  witness  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  man.  The  more 
parallels  to  the  great  sayings  of  the  Bible  that  scholars 
can  discover  amongst  other  nations  far  and  wide,  the 
better  we  are  pleased. 

But  if  there  are  many  Bibles,  our  Bible  is  for  us  the 
Bible  of  Bibles.  Considering  it  historically,  we  recog- 
nize that  the  lofty  ethical  teaching  therein  contained 
has  guided  the  most  progressive  nations  of  the  world 
into  the  path  of  righteousness.  Nor  has  its  natural  force 
abated,  although  we  now  realize  that  it  includes  imper- 
fect and  temporary  teachings  besides  those  of  lasting 
inspiration.  The  Bible  is  as  precious  to  us  as  ever,  for 
many  of  its  words  have  a  unique  power  to  touch  our 
hearts  and  to  uplift  us  into  converse  with  heaven.  We 
are  confident  that  it  is  inspired,  because  it  inspires  us. 
As  we  study  the  Bible,  we  seem  to  hear  the  voice  of 
God  speaking,  as  He  did  on  Sinai  according  to  Jewish 
legend,  to  the  souls  of  all  the  generations. 

The  interest  of  our  Scriptures  is  many-sided  and  every 
man  can  derive  from  them  a  message,  appropriate  to 
his  own  needs.  Judaism  also,  the  religious  system  based 
on  the  Bible,  has  been  all  things  to  all  men.  To  some 
it  has  meant  observance,  to  others  study,  to  others  again 
mystical  contemplation.  None  of  these  aspects  of  Ju- 
daism is  destitute  of  enduring  value ;  they  all  correspond 
to  human  needs,  which  call  for  satisfaction.  But  any 
religion,  worthy  of  the  name,  must  be  beyond  everything 
else  a  source  of  moral  inspiration ;  it  must  quicken  within 
us  a  sense  of  duty  towards  our  higher  self,  towards  the 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     35 

members  of  our  family  and  towards  the  rest  of  mankind. 
Such  is  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  which  surrounds  eth- 
ical concepts  with  a  warm  emotional  atmosphere.  Time 
has  modified  most  of  the  methods,  by  means  of  which 
these  teachings  are  to  be  applied  to  human  conduct,  but 
they  still  embody  in  substance  the  principles  of  a  good 
life.  This  is  notably  the  case  with  those  ethical  concepts 
of  the  Bible,  which  relate  to  social  righteousness.  The 
progress  of  the  world  has  depended  and  will  continue 
to  depend  upon  the  extent  to  which  these  great  thoughts 
are  put  into  practice.  Let  us  try  therefore  to  discover 
some  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  social  obligation  in  the 
Bible;  if  we  read  aright  the  wisdom  of  the  ages,  it  will 
help  us  to  unravel  our  own  moral  perplexities. 

There  are  two  possible  methods  in  which  to  approach 
our  subject.  We  might  collect  an  anthology  of  Biblical 
texts,  selecting  from  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  from 
the  Psalms  and  the  Wisdom  Literature  a  number  of 
utterances,  full  of  moral  fervor  and  spiritual  insight. 
Such  passages  are  a  Bible  within  the  Bible;  they  have 
called  many  to  righteousness  throughout  the  ages. 
Preachers  and  writers  of  edifying  books  are  apt  to  con- 
centrate all  their  attention  upon  these  golden  texts  and 
to  ignore  everything  in  the  Bible,  which  does  not  satisfy 
the  moral  aspiration  of  our  own  day.  It  would  be  pleas- 
ant and  easy  to  follow  their  example. 

A  moment's  reflection,  however,  will  show  us  that  the 
course  just  described  is  unscientific  and  misleading.  The 
ethical  ideas  of  the  Bible  were  not  without  antecedents; 
they  must  be  studied  historically.  Revelation  is  sub- 
ject to  natural  law  and  the  light  of  truth  found  its 


36      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

way,  as  with  the  gradual  breaking  of  the  dawn,  to  the 
hearts  of  Israel's  spiritual  teachers.  The  Bible  supplies 
us  with  a  record  of  this  progressive  revelation  and  the 
highest  ethical  teachings  therein  contained  will  be  bet- 
ter appreciated  if  we  compare  them  with  the  crude  con- 
ceptions from  which  they  took  their  origin  in  a  more 
primitive  age.  Consider  for  example  the  teaching, 
stated  or  implied  in  various  parts  of  the  Bible,  concern- 
ing the  duty  of  truthfulness.  From  the  dawn  of  Israel's 
history,  the  violation  of  an  oath  was  regarded  as  a 
grave  offense  against  God,  but  no  blame  attached  orig- 
inally to  those  who  outwitted  an  enemy  by  telling  an 
untruth,  when  they  were  not  put  upon  their  oath.  Abra- 
ham and  Jacob,  as  characterized  in  the  earliest  Hebrew 
legends,  tell  lies  without  any  apparent  scruple.  Moses 
is  represented  as  asking  Pharaoh  to  sanction  the  tem- 
porary departure  of  the  Israelites  into  the  wilderness  for 
the  purpose  of  a  religious  festival,  although  he  intended 
from  the  first  that  they  should  never  return  to  Egypt. 
We  read  that  the  prophet  Samuel  was  ordered  by  God 
to  prevaricate  to  the  elders  of  Bethlehem,  because  his 
life  would  have  been  endangered,  if  he  had  disclosed 
the  true  purpose  of  his  coming  to  their  city.  David's 
perfidy  to  Uriah  was  severely  condemned,  but  his  sys- 
tematic deception  of  Achish  was  probably  regarded  as 
patriotic  and  praiseworthy.  In  the  book  of  Kings,  we 
read  that  God  Himself  sent  a  lying  spirit  to  Ahab's 
prophets  so  that  the  wicked  king  might  be  enticed  to 
his  destruction.1  On  the  other  hand,  to  deceive  a  fellow 
tribesman  was  condemned  from  the  first,  especially  if 

II  Kings  22:20-22. 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     37 

the  person  deceived  was  one  to  whom  obedience  and 
respect  were  due.  The  severe  penalty  inflicted  upon 
Gehazi  for  his  attempt  to  deceive  Elisha  illustrates  this 
fact  for  the  preprophetic  period.  The  prophets  built 
upon  these  basic  conceptions  and  greatly  extended  the 
range  of  their  application.  "In  the  prophetical  writings, 
lying  is  conceived  not  merely  as  a  principal  kind,  but 
almost  as  the  soul  of  wickedness,  and  so  sometimes  ap- 
pears as  the  symbol  of  all  moral  evil."2  In  the  exilic 
and  post-exilic  sections  of  the  Bible,  the  duty  of  truth 
speaking  is  regarded  as  absolute.  "Lie  not  one  to  an- 
other." "The  lip  of  truth  shall  be  established  for  ever; 
but  a  lying  tongue  is  but  for  a  moment."  "Yahweh,  who 
shall  sojourn  in  Thy  Tabernacle?  *  *  *  He  that 
speaketh  truth  in  his  heart."3  These  are  only  a  few 
out  of  many  passages,  which  show  how  richly  the  teach- 
ing of  the  prophets  bore  fruit.  Truth  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  ideal  virtue,  which  was  characteristic  of 
God's  people.  Whereas  the  right  hand  of  aliens  was 
a  right  hand  of  falsehood,  the  remnant  of  Israel  would 
not  speak  lies,  neither  would  a  deceitful  tongue  be  found 
in  their  mouth.4 

Or  consider  again  how  usage  and  feeling  varied  with 
regard  to  the  legitimacy  of  personal  vengeance.  Lamech, 
Gideon  and  Samson,  heroes  of  the  old  Hebrew  sagas, 
became  illustrious  because  of  their  prowess  in  execut- 
ing blood  revenge  upon  their  public  and  private  en- 
emies. "In  earlier  times  when  the  lex  talionis  was  in 


2Hastings,  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  112. 

3Lev.  19:11;  Prov.  12:19;  Ps.  15:1-2. 

4Ps.  144:8;  Zeph  3:  13  (a  post-exilic  passage). 


38      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

unrestricted  operation,  no  one  stopped  to  ask  whether 
the  slayer  did  the  deed  by  accident  or  with  malice  pre- 
pense. Joab  took  the  life  of  Abner,  although  he  knew 
that  his  rival  had  killed  his  brother  in  self-defense."5 
This  right  of  "wild  justice"  (once  indeed  an  obligation) 
was  gradually  limited.  The  unintentional  homicide  was 
protected  from  injury;  retaliation  was  restricted  so  that 
one  life  only,  that  of  the  murderer  himself,  might  be 
exacted  for  a  life;  finally  the  avenger  of  blood  was 
not  allowed  to  execute  justice  on  the  murderer  until  the 
case  had  been  investigated  by  an  impartial  tribunal.  Sim- 
ilarly men  gradually  realized  that  they  must  not  avenge 
personal  injuries,  inflicted  on  them.  David  was  at  first 
inclined  to  wreak  vengeance  on  Nabal,  but  he  achieved 
self-mastery  and  left  his  cause  to  God.  In  other  cases 
he  displayed  great  magnanimity  and  forgave  unreserved- 
ly his  personal  foes.6  Joseph,  according  to  the  Elohist, 
accepted  the  repentance  of  his  brethren  in  the  most  gen- 
erous spirit.7  Notable  also  is  the  early  law,  that  proper 
attention  must  be  given  to  the  ox  or  the  ass  of  an  enemy, 
if  it  be  found  going  astray  or  overburdened.8  Such  legis- 
lation was  probably  in  part  the  cause  and  in  part  the 
effect  of  the  humane  disposition  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
whose  kings,  as  judged  by  contemporary  standards,  were 
noted  for  their  mercy  towards  fallen  enemies.9  It  is 


SMitchell,  The  Ethics  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  115. 
6The  repulsive  death-bed  scene  in  1  Kings:  2:1-9  is,  we  may 
well  suppose,  unhistorical  (See  Encyclopaedia  Biblica,  p.  1034n). 
7Gen.  50:15-21. 
8Ex.  23:4-5. 
n  Kings  20:31. 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     39 

true  that  atrocities  were  sometimes  committed  in  war. 
The  extermination  of  the  Canaanites  never  happened  on 
the  scale  recorded  in  the  book  of  Joshua,  but  the  total 
population  of  cities  captured  by  storm  was  sometimes 
put  to  the  sword  under  the  influence  of  a  religious  frenzy. 
It  was  not  yet  understood  that  we  should  hate  idolatry, 
but  love  the  idolater.  This  partly  explains  the  fact, 
which  at  first  sight  seems  very  disappointing,  that  hos- 
tility to  national  enemies  is  sometimes  expressed  with 
peculiar  emphasis  after  the  exile.  It  was  an  era  when 
the  pious  Jew  regarded  with  horror  the  idolatry  and 
moral  corruption  of  the  heathen  world.  Those  who 
were  on  the  Lord's  side,  felt  impelled  to  pray  that  Hte 
should  cut  off  the  workers  of  iniquity  by  His  just  decree, 
so  that  they  might  no  longer  vex  or  tempt  the  righteous. 
Further,  Israel,  from  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  until  the 
completion  of  the  Canon,  was  so  often  subjected  to 
cruel  oppression  at  the  hands  of  the  nations  that  we  can 
well  understand  the  occasional  outbursts  of  hatred,  which 
occur  in  certain  psalms  and  in  other  Biblical  writings. 
It  would  not  have  been  wonderful  if  the  whole  Jewish 
nation,  including  its  religious  leaders,  had  cherished  the 
same  feeling  of  blind  hostility  to  the  gentiles.  But  this 
was  not  the  case.  After  the  exile,  there  began  the  dis- 
persion of  Israel,  the  lingering  suffering  of  which  was 
not  without  its  compensations.  Foreign  nations  became 
better  known,  sometimes  proving  repulsive  to  the  Jews, 
but  sometimes  also  attractive.  It  is  not  surprising  there- 
fore that  the  later  books  of  the  Bible  supply  such  striking 
examples  of  particularistic  and  also  of  universalistic  feel- 
ing. In  many  a  noble  picture  of  the  Messianic  era,  our 


40      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

seers  and  poets  give  expression  to  hopes  not  only  for 
their  own  nation  but  also  for  all  mankind,  who  shall  at 
last  be  united  in  love  to  God  and  man  through  the 
missionary  efforts  of  Israel.  Some  Biblical  writers  pray 
for  the  utter  destruction  of  their  natural  enemies,  but 
others  believe  that  the  heathen  will  be  redeemed  through 
chastisement:  "Jahweh  shall  smite  Egypt,  smiting  and 
healing;  and  when  they  return  unto  Jahweh,  He  shall 
receive  their  supplication  and  shall  heal  them."10  We 
even  find,  in  one  place,  the  remarkable  doctrine  that  the 
gods  of  the  actual  unregenerate  nations  were  only  so 
many  names  of  the  one  true  God,  so  that  heathen  wor- 
ship was  in  reality  "incense  offered  unto  His  name  and 
a  pure  oblation."  (Malachi  1:11).  Thus  much  was  done 
by  the  finer  spirits  in  post-exilic  Israel  to  moderate  the 
bitterness  of  national  feuds.  As  to  the  revenge  of  pri- 
vate wrongs,  it  was  henceforward  forbidden  without  re- 
serve. The  message  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs  is  that 
we  moist  overcome  hatred  by  love  and  take  a  noble 
revenge  upon  our  enemies  by  helping  them  in  their  need.11 
The  most  constant  element  in  the  ethical  teaching  of 
the  Bible  is  insistence  on  justice,  especially  on  justice 
to  the  helpless;  this  we  find  in  almost  every  section,  to 


lOIsaiah  19:22;  Compare  Jer.  12:14-17,  Isaiah  26:9,  Zeph. 
3:8-9  and  perhaps  Ps  83:16. 

iiPrpv.  10:12;  25:21-22,  etc.  Compare  also  Job  31:29-30. 
Fault  is  9ften  found  with  Prov.  24:17-18:  "At  the  fall  of  the 
enemy  rejoice  not,  at  his  overthrow  do  not  exult,  lest  Yahweh 
see  and  be  displeased  and  turn  His  anger  from  him."  But  the 
meaning  seems  to  be  that  the  avenger  is  more  guilty  than  the 
enemy,  on  whom  he  takes  vengeance ;  the  divine  punishment  will 
therefore  fall  on  his  own  head.  So  Toy  in  the  International 
Critical  Commentary.  In  post-biblical  literature,  we  find  still 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     41 

whatever  age  it  belongs.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  how- 
ever, that  the  portions  of  Scripture,  written  before  the 
book  of  Deuteronomy,  contain  few  references  to  the 
charitable  relief  of  the  poor.  The  bestowal  of  such 
assistance  is  never  recorded  in  the  legends  of  the  patri- 
archs, which  reflect  the  popular  ideal  of  a  perfect  life  in 
the  brave  days  of  old ;  nor  do  we  read  of  it  in  the  books 
of  Judges  and  Samuel.  Elijah  and  especially  Elisha 
perform,  according  to  the  book  of  Kings,  miracles  of 
benevolence,  similar  to  those  afterwards  attributed  to 
Jesus ;  these  narrations  and  the  actual  facts  that  underlie 
them,  probably  mark  the  gradual  formation  of  a  new 
ideal  of  goodness.  In  the  earliest  code  of  Hebrew  legis- 
lation— that  contained  in  the  so-called  Book  of  the  Cov- 
enant (Exodus  XXI — XXIII) — the  only  laws  of  char- 
ity are  the  prohibition  of  usury  and  the  command  that 
the  land  should  lie  fallow  in  the  seventh  year  "that 
the  poor  of  thy  people  may  eat  and  what  they  leave  the 
beast  of  the  field  shall  eat."12  Man's  duty  to  man,  as 
conceived  by  Amos,  Isaiah  and  Micah,  is  to  be  just  and 
to  check  injustice  in  others.13  Hosea,  it  is  true,  gives  a 


loftier  teaching  with  regard  to  the  forgiveness  of  pur  enemies. 
Many  illustrative  passages  are  collected  in  the  article  "Enemy, 
treatment  of  an,"  in  the  Jewish  Encyclopedia.  There  is  another 
noble  passage  bearing  on  this  subject  in  the  Testaments 
of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  (T.  Gad  6:3-7).  Dr.  R.  H.  Charles, 
the  leading  authority  on  the  apocalyptic  books,  considers  this  to 
be  "the  most  remarkable  statement  on  the  subject  of  forgive- 
ness in  all  ancient  literature." 
!2Exodus  22:25-27;  23:11. 

13In  Isaiah  32:8,  the  citizen  of  the  ideal  Messianic  common- 
wealth is  characterised  as  Nadib,  i.  e.,  a  noble,  self-sacrificing 
philanthropist.  But  this  passage  is  almost  certainly  post-exilic 
as  is  the  great  saying  in  Micah:  "What  does  Yahweh  re- 


42      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

deeper  interpretation  to  the  idea  of  virtue,  which  he 
traces  back  to  its  source  in  a  heart  filled  with  dutiful  love 
(hesed)  to  God  and  man.  Even  so,  Hosea  considers 
that  the  loving  heart  is,  above  everything,  true  to  the 
obligations  of  civil  righteousness.  When  he  complains 
that  there  is  no  love  in  the  land,  he  does  not  mean  that 
his  contemporaries  are  merely  harsh  and  unkind,  but 
that  they  show  their  loveless  disposition  by  swearing, 
lying,  killing,  stealing,  adultery.14  In  short,  Hosea  real- 
ized justice  and  love  as  interdependent.  He  admonished 
his  people  to  sow  for  themselves  righteousness  and  to 
reap  the  fruit  of  love.15 

The  reason  why  so  little  is  said  about  charity  in  the 
older  portions  of  the  Bible  is  not  far  to  seek.  It  is 
because  Hebrew  civilization,  like  other  ancient  polities, 
was  partly  founded  on  slavery.  "Charity  finds  an  ex- 
tended scope  for  action  only  when  there  exists  a  large 
class  of  men  at  once  independent  and  impoverished.  In 
the  ancient  societies,  slavery  in  a  great  measure  replaced 
pauperism  and  by  securing  the  subsistence  of  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  poor  contracted  the  sphere  of 
charity."16  The  institution  of  slavery  in  Israel  goes  back 
to  the  dawn  of  history.  Ebed,  the  Hebrew  word  for 
slave,  is  common  in  all  parts  of  the  Bible  and  is  found 
in  the  other  Semitic  dialects:  sachir,  on  the  other  hand, 

quire  of  thee?  Only  to  do  justice,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk 
humbly  with  thy  God"  (Micah  6:8). 

HHosea  4:1-2.  See  Robertson  Smith,  The  Prophets  of  Israel. 
(second  edition)  p.  162. 

15Hosea  10:12.  See  Harper's  note  on  passage  in  the  Inter- 
national Critical  Commentary. 

16Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  Vol.  2,  p.  73. 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     43 

first  occurs  in  Isaiah  in  the  sense  of  a  mercenary  sol- 
dier,17 and  it  is  not  applied  to  a  wage-earner  by  any 
writer  earlier  than  the  Deuteronomist.18  In  more  ancient 
times,  the  people  carried  out  their  agricultural  or  pas- 
toral work  with  the  aid  of  slaves,  some  of  whom  were 
foreign  prisoners  of  war,  whilst  others  were  of  native 
birth — insolvent  debtors,  convicted  thieves  who  could  not 
make  good  their  theft,  children  sold  into  slavery  by  poor 
parents,  destitute  paupers  who  had  sold  themselves  as 
bondmen.  Now  the  lot  of  a  slave,  who  lives  in  enforced 
dependence  upon  the  will  of  another  man,  can  never  be 
secure  or  satisfactory,  but  he  is  much  more  happily 
situated  in  some  countries  than  in  others.  We  gather 
from  a  number  of  indications  that  the  slaves  who  lived 
in  an  ancient  Israelite  household,  were  treated  as  though 
they  were  in  some  sort  members  of  the  family.  Thus 
the  slave  Eliezer,  although  a  foreigner,  was  in  Abra- 
ham's confidence  and  was  considered  a  possible  heir  to 
his  master.  Abigail  asked  advice  from  one  of  her  hus- 
band's slaves  at  a  time  of  danger.  Saul  was  on  terms 
of  intimacy  with  his  slave.  During  their  search  for  the 
asses  they  exchanged  ideas  freely  and  they  sat  down 
together  at  the  feast.  When  Saul  required  some  money 
for  the  prophet's  fee,  his  slave  lent  it  to  him;  hence  it 
appears  that  slaves  were  in  possession  of  property.  For- 
eign captives,  subjected  to  task  work — "hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water" — were  in  much  worse  case;  but 
even  they  possessed  a  recognized  status  in  the  commu- 


I'See  Isaiah  16:14;  21:16.  So  Jer.  46:21. 
Deut.  24:14. 


44      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

nity,19  and  their  interest  was  protected  not  only  by  cus- 
tom but  by  law.  In  the  Book  of  the  Covenant,  in  Deu- 
teronomy, and  in  the  Priestly  Code  alike,  we  find  pro- 
visions, which  became  in  course  of  time  more  and  more 
stringent,  to  save  slaves  from  unfair  treatment.  The 
laws  for  their  protection  in  the  Book  of  the  Covenant 
gave  to  a  Hebrew  slave  the  option  of  freedom  after  seven 
years'  service ;  they  make  man-stealing  a  capital  offense ; 
they  provide  for  the  punishment  of  a  master  who  beats 
his  slave  to  death  and  for  the  freedom  of  a  slave  de- 
prived of  an  eye  or  tooth ;  they  secure  for  man-servants 
and  maid-servants  a  share  of  Sabbath  rest.  Some  of 
these  laws  were  stumbling  blocks  to  faith,  whilst  it  was 
still  believed  that  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  was  ab- 
solute and  unchanging.  Special  difficulty  was  felt  in 
understanding  why  sure  vengeance  should  be  taken  upon 
a  master  if  his  slave  dies  beneath  the  lash,  but  not  if 
the  latter  survived  for  a  day  or  two,  "for  he  is  his 
money."  We  now  perceive  that  laws  of  this  character 
represent  an  advance  on  earlier  usage  which  empowered 
a  master  to  kill  his  slave  at  pleasure  and  that  they  mark 
an  important  stage  in  the  evolution  of  ethics. 

Kind  to  their  slaves,  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  also 
kind  to  strangers.  As  we  have  seen,  opportunities  for 
charity  are  restricted  in  a  primitive  community.  It  is 
otherwise  with  the  practice  of  hospitality,  which  is  es- 
pecially important  at  a  time  when  the  wayfarer  is  not 
protected  by  any  public  authority  and  his  sole  reliance 
is  on  the  generosity  of  individuals.  It  was  tempting  to 


19See  Deut.  29:11.  This  is  a  late  passage,  but  it  may  register 
a  more  ancient  usage. 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     45 

take  advantage  of  a  stranger's  weakness,  but  mankind 
learned  to  obey  a  nobler  impulse.  Human  nature 
changed ;  the  demand  for  a  virtue  created  a  supply  of  it. 
The  virtue  of  hospitality  was  highly  esteemed  amongst 
many  nations  of  antiquity.  It  plays  a  part  of  especial 
importance  in  the  religious  life  of  the  Israelites,  who 
gave  to  wayfarers  generous  entertainment  and  protec- 
tion.20 Nor  was  their  kindness  displayed  only  to  tran- 
sient guests.  The  ger  or  protected  stranger  who  had 
come  to  settle  in  the  land  of  Israel  was  held  to  be 
under  the  protection  of  the  God  of  Israel.  According 
to  the  most  ancient  Hebrew  legislation,  such  strangers 
must  not  be  oppressed  and  they  must  be  permitted  to 
rest  on  the  Sabbath  if  they  render  service  in  return  for 
their  protection.  Our  feeling  towards  them  must  be 
sympathetic:  "ye  know  the  heart  of  a  stranger,  seeing 
ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt."21 

Thus  the  keynote  of  Israel's  earliest  legislation  was 
justice  mated  with  chivalry.  It  implied  a  general  con- 
ception of  social  ethics,  already  perfect  and  absolute,  how- 
ever imperfectly  it  was  at  first  understood.  Amos, 
Hosea,  Isaiah  and  Micah  cannot  rightly  be  described  as 


20The  assassination  of  Sisera  by  Jael,  as  related  in  Judges 
Ch.  4,  involved  a  treacherous  breach  of  hospitality  and  was  in 
contravention  to  the  rules  of  morality,  ancient  as  well  as  modern. 
But  the  account  is  based  on  a  misunderstanding,  as  can  be  seen 
when  it  is  compared  with  the  poem  in  Judges,  Ch.  5,  where  the 
incident  is  described  by  a  contemporary.  "The  act  by  which 
Jael  gained  such  renown  was  not  the  murder  of  a  sleeping 
man,  but  the  use  of  a  daring  stratagem  which  gave  her  a 
momentary  chance  to  deliver  a  courageous  blow."  (Robertson 
Smith,  The  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church,  p.  132.) 

2lEx.  22:21;  23:9;  23:12. 


46    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

the  "creators  of  ethical  monotheism"  for  Yahweh  had 
long  ago  revealed  Himself  to  Israel  as  the  God  of  right- 
eousness. These  great  prophets  did  not  proclaim  a  new 
morality,  but  they  warned  their  people  of  impending  ruin, 
which  could  only  be  averted  by  the  performance  of  du- 
ties familiar  but  neglected.  Their  originality  mainly 
consisted  in  the  peculiar  emphasis,  which  they  placed 
upon  God's  absolute  righteousness.  He  would  punish 
guilty  Israel  with  a  punishment  at  least  as  severe  as 
that  inflicted  on  other  sinful  nations.  Nor  could  the 
divine  wrath  be  appeased  by  the  pious  observance  of 
ritual  requirements.  The  whole  sacrificial  system,  with 
its  accompanying  ceremonial,  was  swept  aside  by  Amos 
and  the  other  pre-exilic  prophets  as  utterly  vain.  They 
believed  that  God  required  from  his  people  righteousness 
and  nothing  else. 

The  result  of  prophetic  teaching,  so  far  as  it  could  be 
embodied  in  a  code,  was  the  book  of  Deuteronomy.  Here 
ceremonialism  comes  into  its  own  again;  it  plays  a  part 
subordinate  although  important.  "With  priestly  insti- 
tutions the  author  has  greater  sympathy  than  the  proph- 
ets generally.  *  *  *  A  right  heart,  instinct  with  true 
affections  towards  God  and  man,  is  indeed  the  only  re- 
ligion which  has  value  in  his  eyes:  but  he  is  aware  that 
external  forms,  if  properly  observed,  may  exercise  and 
keep  alive  a  religious  spirit,  may  guard  Israel's  "holi- 
ness" from  profanation  and  preserve  it  from  contamina- 
tion with  heathen  influences.22  The  Deuteronomist 
gives  an  ethical  and  humanitarian  tinge  to  some  of  the 

22Driver  on  Deuteronomy  (International  Critical  Commentary) 
p.  XXX. 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     47 

ritual  laws  which  he  takes  over  from  primitive  custom 
or  earlier  legislation.  He  admonishes  his  people  that 
they  should  show  hospitality  towards  the  destitute  on 
the  occasion  of  religious  festivals  (Deut.  16:11,  14),  and 
that  they  should  allow  not  only  their  own  dependents 
but  also  settlers  in  the  land  to  rest  on  the  Sabbath  (5 :  14). 
Very  striking  is  the  law  in  Deuteronomy  with  reference 
to  the  privileges  of  gleaners  (24:  19-21).  There  is  a 
widespread  superstition  that  the  last  sheaf  of  corn  left 
in  the  field  contains  the  corn  spirit  and  that  it  is  dan- 
gerous to  take  it  away  with  the  others.  The  Deuter- 
onomist  makes  no  mention  of  this  scruple,  but  he  makes 
a  good  use  of  the  custom  based  upon  it  and  reserves 
the  gleanings  in  field,  olive-garden  and  vineyard  for  the 
enjoyment  of  the  settler,  the  orphan  and  the  widow.  To 
these  and  other  dependent  classes  of  society  he  also 
assigns  a  tithe  of  all  the  crops  in  every  third  year 
(14:29;  26:12-15).  Similarly  he  directs  that  a  liberal 
gift  be  rendered  to  Hebrew  slaves  on  the  occasion  of 
their  manumission.  (15:13-14). 

In  Deuteronomy,  laws  of  justice  to  all  and  particularly 
fo  the  poor  are  more  detailed  and  elaborate  than  be- 
fore. There  are  besides  many  regulations  that  tend  to 
foster  the  growth  of  kindness  and  forbearance  to  others 
in  all  the  relationships  of  life.  Man,  declares  the  Deu- 
teronomist,  should  walk  in  God's  ways  (10:12).  I  think 
the  Rabbis  rightly  explain  this  to  mean  that  we  should 
imitate  the  divine  attributes  and  be  merciful  even  as 
God  is  merciful.23  Accordingly  the  lawgiver  warns  us 


23See  Sifre  on  Deut.  10:12.    The  thought  is  clearly  involved  in 
the  teaching  of   Deut.    10:17-19.     "Yahweh  loves   the   stranger. 
.    .    Love  ye  also  the  stranger." 


48      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

not  only  to  treat  others  generously  but  also  to  enter  in- 
to their  feelings  lest  they  be  exposed  to  shame.  Thus  a 
creditor  is  not  given  the  right  of  entry  into  the  bor- 
rower's house  in  order  to  take  away  a  pledge  as  security 
for  the  debt ;  he  must  wait  until  it  is  brought  out  to  him 
(24:10-11).  Tools  of  trade  must  not  be  taken  in  pledge 
at  all  (24:6);  a  poor  man's  mantle  may  be  so  taken, 
but  it  must  be  restored  at  night  time,  "that  he  may  sleep 
in  his  garment  and  bless  thee"  (24:12-13).  Excessive 
corporal  punishment  is  forbidden,  "lest  thy  brother  be 
dishonored  before  thy  sight"  (25:3).  The  Israelite  must 
provide  a  parapet  to  his  house  top,  lest  he  endanger 
human  life  (22:8).  If  he  finds  lost  property,  he  must 
restore  it  to  his  "brother,"  that  is  to  say,  not  only  to  a 
fellow  Israelite,  but  also  to  the  member  of  a  kindred 
race  (22:1-3).  Amongst  the  "brethren"  of  Israel,  the 
Edomite  is  specifically  included  (23:7).  "The  owner 
of  a  vineyard  or  field  of  corn  is  not  to  grudge  the  passer- 
by a  few  grapes  or  ears  of  corn  if  he  plucks  them  as  he 
walks  along;  on  the  other  hand  the  passerby  is  not 
to  take  advantage  of  the  liberty  thus  granted  to  him, 
for  the  purpose  of  enriching  himself  unreasonably  at 
his  neighbor's  expense."24  Runaway  slaves  are  not  to 
be  handed  over  to  their  masters,  but  must  be  given  free 
right  of  settlement  in  the  land  (23:15-16);  to  harbor 
such  a  fugitive  was  a  capital  offense  according  to  the 
code  of  Hammurabi,  so  that  this  law  at  least  cannot 
have  been  derived  from  Babylon.  The  Deuteronomist 
teaches  that  we  must  show  kindness  not  only  to  man 


24Driver,  op.  cit.  on  Deut.  23 :24-25. 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     49 

but  also  to  beast;  we  must  allow  our  cattle  to  rest  on 
the  Sabbath  and  we  must  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he 
is  treading  out  the  corn  (5  :14,  25 :4).  In  short,  we  must 
not  "harden  our  heart  or  shut  our  hand"  from  any 
that  need  our  help. 

The  ethical  teaching  of  Jeremiah  followed  the  same 
lines  as  those  pursued  by  the  earlier  prophets.  Like 
them,  he  warned  his  people  against  the  oppression  of 
the  weak,  against  bloodshed  and  theft,  adultery  and 
falsehood.  But  he  realized  that  it  is  not  enough  to  de- 
nounce outward  manifestations  of  wrongdoing.  The 
root  of  sin  is  within  the  heart,  which  must  be  cleansed 
and  dedicated  to  God,  before  true  religion  is  possible 
to  man.  Hence  he  is  led  to  his  doctrine  of  the  "new 
covenant,"  which  we  have  already  considered  in  some 
detail. 

Ezekiel's  conception  of  morality  is  best  illustrated  by 
the  following  passage,  in  which  he  characterizes  a  typi- 
cally righteous  man:  "If  a  man  be  just  and  do  that 
which  is  lawful  and  right,  and  has  not  eaten  upon  the 
mountains"  (i.  e.  he  has  not  shared  in  the  corrupt  sac- 
rificial feasts  at  the  mountain  shrines)  "neither  has  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes  to  the  idols  of  the  house  of  Israel, 
neither  has  he  defiled  his  neighbor's  wife,  neither  has 
he  come  near  to  a  woman  in  her  separation;25  and  he 
has  not  wronged  any,  but  has  restored  to  the  debtor 
his  pledge,  has  spoiled  none  by  violence,  has  given  his 


25This  prohibition  which  does  not  occur  in  the  earlier  Law- 
literature,  is  first  found  in  Lev.  20:18  (in  the  Holiness  Code). 
It  rests,  however,  on  a  Taboo,  almost  universal,  and  dates 
from  remote  antiquity.  See  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the 
Semites,  p.  447. 


50      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

bread  to  the  hungry,  and  has  covered  the  naked  with 
a  garment;  he  that  has  not  given  forth  upon  usury, 
neither  has  taken  any  increase,  that  has  withdrawn  his 
hand  from  iniquity,  has  executed  true  judgment  be- 
tween man  and  man,  has  walked  in  my  statutes,  and  has 
kept  my  judgments  to  deal  truly;  he  is  just,  he  shall 
surely  live,  saith  the  Lord  Yahweh."  (Ezek.  18:5-9). 
Thus  virtue,  as  the  prophet  understands  it,  mainly  con- 
sists in  obedience  to  the  laws  of  Deuteronomy,  that 
prohibit  idolatry,  impurity  of  worship  and  of  life,  in- 
justice and  oppression.  But  Ezekiel  is  the  first  to  men- 
tion amongst  the  characteristics  of  the  good  man,  that 
he  "gives  his  bread  to  the  hungry  and  covers  the  naked 
with  a  garment"  not  only  at  harvest  time  or  at  the 
celebration  of  a  festival,  but  as  one  of  the  regular  duties 
of  daily  life.  Writing  in  the  same  spirit  Ezekiel  de- 
clared that  the  guilt  of  Sodom  consisted  in  this,  that 
its  citizens  in  their  pride  and  prosperity  gave  no  sup- 
port to  the  poor  (Ezek.  16:49).  The  same  lesson  is 
expanded  in  form  and  rendered  more  appealing  by  the 
unknown  prophet  to  whom  we  owe  Isaiah  58 — the  chap- 
ter about  the  keeping  of  a  true  fast:  "Is  it  not  to  share 
thy  bread  with  the  hungry  and  to  bring  the  outcast 
poor  into  thy  house?  When  thou  seest  the  naked,  thou 
shall  cover  him  and  hide  not  thyself  from  thy  own 
flesh?"  A  beautiful  spirit  is  at  work  here,  but  it  is  not 
the  same  as  that  of  the  earlier  teachers.  Amos  would 
have  said,  Right  the  wrongs  of  the  outcast  poor:  the 
prophet  of  the  exile  pleaded  that  their  necessities  should 
be  relieved.  A  new  concept  of  righteousness  was  being 
evolved,  or  perhaps  we  should  say  that  the  ideal  of 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     51 

righteousness  was  now  regarded  from  a  fresh  angle. 
After  the  return  from  captivity,  the  administration  of 
justice  was  only  partly  controlled  by  Israelites,  who 
must  needs  submit  to  the  caprices  of  alien  rulers.  Hence 
it  was  now  impossible  to  root  out  oppression  by  means 
of  human  activity.  The  immediate  task  of  good  men 
was  to  relieve  the  victims  of  oppression  and  to  pray 
for  the  speedy  coming  of  a  golden  age,  when  the  world 
would  be  saved  by  a  divine  catastrophe.  As  time  went 
on  the  typical  good  deed  was  more  and  more  regarded 
as  an  act  of  mercy  rather  than  of  justice.  We  already 
see  an  approach  to  this  conception  in  the  psalmist's  pic- 
ture of  the  ideal  man,  who  "disperses  and  gives  to  the 
poor"  so  that  "his  righteousness  endures  for  ever"  (Ps. 
112:9).  But  righteousness  and  mercy  are  not  as  yet 
identified:  "all  that  is  meant  is  that  mercifulness  is  one 
feature  of  the  ideal  righteous  character." 

The  new  conception  of  righteousness,  that  gained 
ground  after  the  exile,  supplemented  but  did  not  sup- 
plant the  moral  ideals  of  the  great  prophets  from  Amos 
to  Jeremiah.  More  stress  was  now  laid  upon  generosity, 
but  the  claims  of  justice  were  not  forgotten.  A  few 
voices  were  still  heard  to  declare  that  nothing  matters 
except  obedience  to  the  behests  of  morality.  A  psalmist 
taught  that  man's  fellowship  with  God  depends  entirely 
upon  the  fulfilment  of  his  duty  to  his  neighbor,  no 
mention  being  made  of  any  ritual  requirements  (Ps.  15). 
Zechariah  informed  the  returning  exiles  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  indifference  whether  they  fasted  or  feasted; 
to  win  God's  favor,  they  must  speak  the  truth,  set  up 
wholesome  justice,  plan  no  evil  against  others  and  love 


52      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

no  false  oath  (Zech.  8:16).  But  the  dominant  teach- 
ing of  the  time  was  different.  Religious  enthusiasm,  di- 
vorced through  force  of  circumstances  from  national  life, 
found  expression  in  personal  piety,  in  ceremonial  ob- 
servance and  in  devotion  to  the  sacred  book  of  the  Law. 
Not  that  the  ethical  side  of  religion  was  forgotten.  The 
central  precept  of  the  time  was  "Be  holy"  and  holiness 
included  man's  duty  to  man  as  well  as  his  real  or  imag- 
inary duty  to  God.  In  the  name  of  holiness,  he  ate  no 
tabooed  meat  and  wore  no  coat  made  from  tabooed  cloth ; 
but  also  in  the  name  of  holiness,  he  was  called  upon 
to  be  honorable,  considerate,  just  and  pure.  It  is  to 
the  age  of  Ezekiel  that  we  owe  the  noble  moral  teach- 
ing in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Leviticus,  including  the 
immortal  precepts,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self," "Thou  shalt  love  the  foreign  settler  as  thyself." 
(Lev.  19:18,  34).  They  are  the  whole  Law  and  all 
else  is  commentary. 

In  the  psalms,  the  teaching  of  social  ethics  is  mostly 
indirect.  They  include  a  few  didactic  poems,  designed  to 
teach  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  But  usually  they  are  ad- 
dressed not  to  man,  but  to  God.  As  he  begins  his 
prayer  or  praise,  the  heart  of  the  psalmist  is  filled  with 
the  remembrance  of  the  divine  glory,  with  gratitude  for 
the  protection  granted  him,  with  longing  for  forgiveness 
and  for  the  joy  of  God's  presence  within  the  soul.  His 
intent  is  to  seek  after  grace  rather  than  to  teach  others. 
But  the  words  of  many  a  psalm  are  a  source  of  moral 
inspiration,  that  has  never  failed  the  children  of  men 
during  the  long  ages  that  have  passed  since  it  was  writ- 
ten. When  we  read  of  God,  as  the  psalmists  picture 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     53 

Him,  just,  glorious  and  loving,  hating  wickedness  and 
befriending  the  lowly,  we  become  conscious  of  an  ideal, 
towards  which  we  would  fain  struggle  upwards  in  our 
dealings  with  our  fellows. 

The  book  of  Proverbs,  on  the  other  hand,  is  didactic 
from  beginning  to  end.  Its  aim  is  to  attach  its  readers 
to  "wisdom,"  that  is  to  say,  to  a  method  of  life  based 
on  practical  good  sense  and  on  the  fear  of  God.  In 
contradistinction  from  the  books  of  the  prophets  and 
from  nearly  all  the  psalms,  it  takes  no  account  of  na- 
tional life;  it  instructs  individuals  how  to  live  good  lives 
whether  in  a  public  or  private  station,  and  warns  them 
to  be  clean  livers,  temperate  in  eating  and  drinking,  mod- 
est and  industrious.  The  demands  of  social  ethics  also 
receive  attention.  We  are  taught  to  behave  justly  and 
sincerely,  to  refrain  from  slander,  to  be  patient,  good- 
tempered  and  forgiving.  There  is  little  that  is  new  in 
this  advice,  but  it  was  never  before  expressed  in  Jewish 
literature  in  such  a  spirit  of  universalism.  Wisdom  here 
calls  not  to  Israel  but  to  mankind;  her  voice  is  to  all 
the  sons  of  men.  For  our  present  purpose,  the  most  in- 
teresting verses  in  the  book  are  those  dealing  with  the 
relationship  between  rich  and  poor.  A  few  proverbs 
describe  the  situation  from  the  standpoint  of  a  detached 
and  rather  worldly  observer,  as  when  we  are  told  that 
"the  poor  -man  uses  entreaties,  but  the  rich  answers 
roughly"  (Prov.  18:23),  or  that  "the  poor  man  is  hated 
even  by  his  neighbor"  (14 :20).  But  this  unsympathetic 
attitude,  which  the  sage  has  observed  in  many  rich  men, 
is  condemned  by  him: 


54      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

"He  who  despises  his  neighbor  sins, 
But  happy  he  who  has  pity  on  the  poor"  (14:21). 

Almsgiving  is  frequently  commended  as  a  virtuous  act, 
rewarded  by  God,  for  "whosoever  has  pity  upon  the 
poor  lends  to  Yahweh"  (19:17).  The  ideal  housewife 
is  charitable  and  sympathetic ;  "she  spreads  out  her  hands 
to  the  poor"  and  "kindly  counsel  is  on  her  tongue" 
(31 :20,  26).  Very  notable  also  is  the  following  proverb : 

"The  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together, 
Yahweh  is  the  maker  of  them  all"  (22:2). 

"The  meaning  is:  there  are  social  differences  among 
men ;  but  all  men,  as  creatures  of  God,  have  their  rights 
and  their  natural  obligations  of  respect  and  kindness" 
(Toy).  The  proverb  gives  fine  expression  to  a  funda- 
mental truth. 

The  book  of  Job  is  inspired  by  noble  humanitarian 
sentiment.  Its  theme  is  the  undeserved  affliction  of  the 
righteous.  The  circumstances  of  the  poet's  age  forced 
this  perennial  problem  into  special  prominence.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  Babylonian  captivity,  the  pious  Israelite 
had  believed  that  his  period  of  trial  would  soon  be  over 
and  that  the  glory  of  Yahweh  was  about  to  shine  upon 
him  in  the  sight  of  all  flesh.  These  anticipations  of  sal- 
vation had  not,  however,  been  realized  after  the  return 
of  the  exiles.  Israel  under  the  Persians  was  still  op- 
pressed: "the  earth  was  given  into  the  hand  of  the 
wicked"  and  there  seemed  no  prospect  of  release.  The 
world  was  out  of  joint  and  it  seemed  most  unlikely  that 
any  one  would  be  born  to  set  it  right.  The  perplexing 
questions,  that  troubled  the  mind  of  his  contemporaries, 
are  presented  to  us  by  the  author  of  Job  as  the  laments 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     55 

of  a  blameless  sufferer,  who  speaks  not  only  in  his  own 
name  but  in  that  of  afflicted  humanity.  As  we  read  the 
book,  the  poet  makes  us  share  some  of  his  own  sym- 
pathy with  his  fellow-men.  Again  and  again,  Job  de- 
scribes his  woeful  plight  with  simple  pathos  and 
arouses  our  pity  for  all  who  suffer  as  he  did,  so  that 
we  feel  a  call  to  give  them  relief.  It  is  a  very  fine 
thought  of  the  poet,  when  he  shows  us  that  Job,  in 
the  intensity  of  his  own  agony,  was  able  to  feel  for 
others.26  His  picture  of  the  submerged  masses  in  town 
and  country  is  painfully  realistic;  would  that  it  were 
more  completely  obsolete  even  now!  We  are  shown 
the  vagrants,  who  herd  together  like  wild  asses  in  the 
wilderness,  with  no  shelter  except  the  rocks  and  caves 
and  with  no  food  except  the  roots  and  garbage  of  the 
desert.  Others  are  forced  by  hunger  into  complete 
slavery  or  into  a  condition  of  bondage,  which  amounts 
to  the  same  thing.  They  toil  on  their  masters'  estates 
and  starve  in  the  midst  of  plenty : 
"They  go  naked  without  clothing, 
Themselves  hungry,  they  carry  sheaves, 
They  make  oil  within  the  walls  of  these  men, 
They  tread  wine  presses  but  themselves  suffer 

thirst." 
And  city  life  is  no  better: 

"From  out  the  city  the  dying  groan,, 
And  the  soul  of  the  wounded  cries  out." 


26See  Job  Ch.  24.  In  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  also,  the  thouffht 
of  man's  inhumanity  to  man  excites  in  the  author  a  deep 
sympathy  with  the  oppressed,  who  have  none  to  dry  their  tears. 


56      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Job  speaks,  as  it  has  been  finely  said,  as  a  very  tribune 
of  the  oppressed  masses.  His  words  reach  down  the 
ages  and  plead  the  cause  of  the  poor. 

Very  beautiful  again  is  Job's  description  of  his  own 
happy  past,  when  he  was  honored  and  beloved  by  all  on 
account  of  his  benevolence  and  love  of  justice: 

"When  the  ear  heard  of  me,  it  called  me  blessed, 
And  when  the  eye  saw  me,  it  gave  witness  to  me : 
Because  I  delivered  the  poor  that  cried, 
The  fatherless  also  that  had  none  to  help  him. 
The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came 

upon  me, 

And  I  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  with  joy. 
I  was  eyes  to  the  blind, 
And  feet  was  I  to  the  lame. 
I  was  father  to  the  poor, 

And  the  cause  of  him  whom  I  knew  not  I  searched 
out." 

(Job  29:11-16). 

This  same  sense  of  social  obligation  is  apparent  in 
Job's  closing  speech  (Job  31),  in  which  he  protests  his 
innocence  of  mortal  sin.     He  lays  special  stress  upon 
the  guilt  which  he  would  have  incurred,  had  he  ignored 
the  rights  and  claims  of  humanity.    In  dealing  with  his 
slaves,  he  had  never  abused  his  power,  for  he  realized 
that  the  slave  was  also  a  child  of  God — 
"Did  not  He  that  made  me  in  the  womb  make  him  ? 
And  did  not  One  fashion  us  both?" 

He  had  ministered  to  the  necessities  of  his  fellow 
creatures  with  an  unsparing  hand.  He  had  shared  his 
daily  bread  with  the  poor  and  clothed  them  with  the 


SOME  BIBLICAL  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     57 

fleeces  of  his  sheep.  He  had  not  allowed  the  stranger 
to  sleep  in  the  street,  but  had  opened  his  doors  for  all 
who  needed  shelter.  And  Job's  words  seem  to  end  hope- 
fully. His  kindness  and  just  conduct  towards  his  fel- 
low men  must  vindicate  him  at  last.  "Once  more  he 
throws  himself  on  God  no  longer  in  passionate  expostu- 
lation, but  in  pleading  humility"  (Froude).  Thus  his 
ears  are  opened  to  hear  the  voice  of  God,  who  bids 
him  contemplate  the  beauty  and  wonder  of  nature  and 
rest  assured  that  eternal  goodness  lies  concealed  in  the 
heart  of  all  things. 

One  further  concept  of  social  duty,  as  presented  in  the 
Bible,  must  not  be  forgotten.  Besides  saving  our  fellow 
men  from  suffering,  we  must  save  them  from  sin.  Such 
is  the  teaching  of  the  Holiness  Code :  "thou  shalt  surely 
rebuke  thy  neighbor,  and  not  bear  sin  because  of  him" 
(Lev.  19:17),  by  omitting  to  point  out  his  faults.  Mal- 
achi's  ideal  priest  so  gained  men's  confidence  that  they 
sought  instruction  at  his  mouth  and  "he  turned  many 
away  from  iniquity"  (Mai.  2:6).  The  penitent  psalm- 
ist resolved  that  he  would  use  his  own  experience  of 
sin  and  of  deliverance  from  sin  to  reclaim  others  who 
had  fallen: 

"I  will  teach  transgressors  Thy  ways, 
And  sinners  shall  be  converted  unto  Thee." 

(Ps.   51:13). 

Above  all,  the  conviction  is  cherished  in  some  exilic 
and  post-exilic  prophecies,  that  Israel  would  become  the 
teacher  of  religion  to  the  world.  "The  remnant  of  Jacob 
shall  be  in  the  midst  of  many  nations  as  dew  from  Jah- 
weh"  (Micah  5:7),  which  gives  life  and  refreshment. 


58      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

From  Zion  would  go  forth  instruction  to  establish  peace 
universal  amongst  men.27  Israel  or  a  company  of  faith- 
ful men  in  Israel  was  appointed  to  be  the  servant  of 
Yahweh,  who  should  "set  true  religion  in  the  earth." 
In  the  performance  of  this  great  mission,  the  servant  of 
Yahweh  would  not  shrink  from  shame  and  persecution. 
His  faith  would  be  far  higher  than  that  of  Job,  for  he 
would  understand  the  beauty  of  self-sacrifice  and  accept 
adversity  in  a  gentle  and  uncomplaining  spirit.  The 
chastisement  that  brought  healing  to  his  fellow  men 
would  be  upon  him  and  recovery  would  come  to  them 
through  his  wounds.28  The  details  of  the  picture  are 
left  undetermined;  we  are  not  told  in  what  way  the 
servant  of  Yahweh  bears  the  diseases  of  others  and  the 
burden  of  their  guilt.  We  find  no  formulated  doctrine 
of  vicarious  punishment  or  even  of  vicarious  suffering. 
But  there  is  no  mistaking  the  ideal  which  the  poet  makes 
us  admire  in  the  creature  of  his  imagination  and  calls 
upon  us  to  realize,  so  far  as  we  can,  in  our  own  lives. 
The  servant  of  Yahweh 

"     .     .     rejects  the  lore 
Of  nicely  calculated  less  or  more." 
He  does  not  count  the  cost  to  himself,  if  he  can  help 
his  fellow  men.     He  is  willing  to  die,  if  need  be,  that 
others  may  live. 


27Isaiah  2:1-4,  Micah  4:1-3. 

28The  passages  about  the  servant  of  Yahweh,  referred  to,  are 
Isaiah  42:4;  50:6;  53:4-7. 


Ill 

SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS   OF  SOCIAL  DUTY 

The  charge  is  commonly  made  against  Judaism  that 
its  conception  of  righteousness  is  harsh  and  narrow.  It 
is  said  that  Judaism  lays  stress  upon  justice,  while  Chris- 
tianity alone  exalts  the  surpassing  quality  of  mercy. 
But  this  criticism  ignores  the  evolution  of  ethics  in  the 
history  of  Israel.  Before  the  exile,  the  sterner  side  of 
virtue  was  made  to  stand  in  strong  relief,  because  the 
leading  thought  of  prophets  and  lawgivers  was  that  of  a 
whole  nation,  founded  on  righteousness.  In  public  ad- 
ministration, the  supreme  requisite  is  justice,  for  it  is 
only  through  justice  that  the  weak  will  obtain  merciful 
treatment.  Chivalry  and  humane  conduct  were,  from 
the  first,  included  in  the  Israelite's  conception  of  morality, 
but  the  importance  of  these  qualities  was,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  particularly  emphasized  after  the  Babylo- 
nian captivity.  Henceforward  Israel  never  regained  its 
political  independence  except  for  a  brief  space  in  the 
days  of  the  Maccabees;  in  these  changed  circumstances 
it  was  inevitable  that  ideals  of  conduct  should  also 
change.  The  phase  of  righteousness,  that  came  into 
special  prominence  was  that  which  one  individual  can 

59 


60          LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

practice  towards  another.  The  summit  of  virtue,  as 
described  by  the  Rabbis,  is  attained  by  the  merciful  man 
who  renders  to  his  neighbor  his  neighbor's  due  and  more 
besides.  Severely  condemned  is  he  who  insists  on  his 
strict  legal  rights  and  says,  "What  is  mine  is  mine,  and 
what  is  thine  is  thine."5  The  righteous  man  must  be 
generous  besides  being  just. 

Thus  the  conception  of  "righteousness"was  varied  in 
the  course  of  time,  and  the  Hebrew  word  tsedakah, 
expressing  the  idea  of  righteousness,  underwent  a  cor- 
responding change  of  meaning.  In  the  Bible,  tsedakah 
stands  for  justice  and  for  the  blessings  and  victories 
whereby  a  just  cause  is  vindicated;  or  it  means  the  sum 
total  of  moral  qualities  amongst  which  justice  and  mercy 
are  both  included.  But  in  post-biblical  Hebrew,  this 
word  denotes  any  exercise  of  benevolence  that  goes  be- 
yond the  letter  of  the  law.6  So  far  from  including  the 
quality  of  justice  it  actually  excludes  it:  "where  judg- 
ment is,  there  is  no  room  for  tsedakah,  and  where  tseda- 
kah is,  there  is  no  judgment.7  In  the  Jewish  prayer 
book,  God  is  besought  to  deal  in  tsedakah  (charity)  and 
in  kindness  with  his  creatures  who  cannot  plead  for  their 
justification  good  deeds  of  their  own.8  The  usual  mean- 
ing of  tsedakah  in  post-biblical  Hebrew  is  still  more 
specialized;  as  a  rule  it  denotes  almsgiving.  This  usage 
probably  appears  already  in  one  of  the  chapters  of  Dan- 


SAboth  V:13.  Many  other  illustrative  passages  are  quoted  in 
Schechter,  Some  Aspects  of  Rabbinic  Theology,  pp.  215-216. 

6The  word  tsedek,  however,  continues  to  denote  justice  and 
righteousness  in  post-biblical  Hebrew. 

7Sanhedrin  6b. 

^Authorized  Daily  Prayer-Book  (ed.  Singer),  p.  57. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     61 

iel,  written  in  Aramaic:  "Break  off  thy  sins  by  tsidkah 
and  thine  iniquities  by  showing  mercy  to  the  poor."9 
Tsidkah  may  here  mean  "good  deeds,"  but  the  parallelism 
of  the  verse  rather  suggests  that  it  has  acquired  the 
special  sense  of  almsgiving,  which  so  often  belongs  to 
it  in  subsequent  literature.  This  change  in  the  use  of 
language  corresponded  with  the  change  of  thought,  al- 
ready described.  Benevolence  came  to  be  regarded  as  the 
highest  quality  which  man  can  practice  towards  man; 
the  faithful  Jew  was  eager  to  give  expression  to  his  kind- 
ly disposition  by  liberality  to  the  poor.  He  regarded 
almsgiving  as  righteousness  in  action. 

Benevolence  is  virtuous,  but  it  is  certainly  not  the 
whole  of  virtue ;  still  less  should  almsgiving  be  identified 
with  righteousness.  By  laying  so  much  stress  on  mercy, 
the  Jews  might  be  thought  to  have  neglected  the  claims 
of  justice,  upon  which  their  great  prophets  had  insisted 
so  strongly.  Such  a  charge  might  be  substantiated 
against  some  degenerate  Jews  but  not  against 
the  teachers  of  Judaism.  The  merciful  deeds  of 
an  unjust  man  in  Israel  were  considered  as  worthless. 
"If  a  man  steals  with  one  hand,"  said  the  Rabbis,  "and 
gives  charity  with  the  other  hand,  he  will  not  be  ac- 
quitted in  the  hereafter."10  True  charity  must  be  mated 
with  justice:  "whosoever  practices  charity  and  justice 


9Daniel  4 :27.  In  the  original  Hebrew  of  Ecclesiasticus,  writ- 
ten at  a  date  earlier  than  that  of  Daniel  tsedakah  sometimes 
means  "almsgiving"  and  sometimes  "righteousness." 

10Midrash  on  Prov.  11 :21.  Cf.  "He  that  sacrifices  of  a  thing 
wrongly  gotten,  his  offering  is  made  in  mockery"  (Ecclesiasticus 
34:18). 


62      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

fills  as  it  were  the  world  with  love."11  We  may  say 
indeed  that  Judaism  regards  charity  as  a  branch  of  jus- 
tice. According  to  the  Bible  the  poor  man,  who  is  our 
brother  and  our  flesh,  has  an  actual  right  to  our  as- 
sistance. Those  who  fail  to  render  the  charitable  gifts, 
specified  in  the  Mosaic  Law,  are  called  by  the  Rabbis 
robbers  of  the  poor.12  It  was  considered  to  be  the 
privilege  of  a  rich  Jew,  and  not  merely  his  duty,  to  aid 
his  brethren.  "The  poor  man,"  said  R.  Joshua  (second 
century)  "does  more  for  the  householder  than  the  house- 
holder does  for  him.  The  one  receives  material  assist- 
ance, the  other  is  rewarded  by  God  for  a  meritorious 
deed."13  This  conception  exerted  upon  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple an  influence  which  was  not  an  unmixed  blessing,  but 
it  emphasized  the  vital  truth  that  charitable  deeds  are 
not  mere  works  of  supererogation.  As  the  Rev.  Morris 
Joseph  has  finely  written:  "The  love  which  is  en- 
joined upon  us  is  seen  to  be,  after  all,  but  another 
name  for  justice.  Forgiveness,  forbearance,  charity, 
merciful  acts  of  every  kind,  become  the  rightful  due 
of  our  fellow-man,  who,  like  ourself,  is  a  unit  of  the 
human  brotherhood.  *  *  *  It  is  because  charity  is 
given  so  often  as  an  act  of  grace  and  not  as  a  debt  due 
to  the  poor,  that  it  is  given  so  ungraciously,  and  thus 
fails  to  achieve  its  great  end — the  closing  of  the  rent 
that  divides  the  social  organism."14  Charity,  as  enjoined 
by  Judaism,  was  not  tainted  by  this  defect. 


HSuccah  49b. 

i2Aboth  V:12. 

"Leviticus  Rabbah,  Ch.  34. 

^Judaism  as  Creed  and  Life,  pp.  399-400. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY    63 

Although  the  Rabbis  magnify  the  merit  of  almsgiving, 
they  lay  even  greater  stress  upon  benevolence  as  a  gen- 
eral rule  of  life.  According  to  one  of  the  most  ancient 
sayings  in  the  Mishna,  the  world  was  created  to  serve 
three  ends — the  study  of  the  Law,  the  worship  of  God 
and  the  bestowal  of  kindness.15  In  three  respects,  say 
the  Rabbis,  kindness  excels  almsgiving:  we  can  show 
kindness,  not  only  by  gracious  gifts,  but  also  by  gra- 
cious deeds  and  words ;  we  can  be  kind  to  rich  and  poor 
alike;  we  can  manifest  our  kindly  disposition  even  in 
our  treatment  of  the  dead,  when  we  busy  ourselves  in 
their  honorable  burial.16  In  the  same  passage  of  the 
Talmud,  R.  Eleazar17  (third  century)  is  recorded  as  pro- 
nouncing almsgiving  to  be  greater  than  all  the  offerings; 
but  he  declares  it  to  be  rewarded  by  God  only  so  far 
as  it  contains  the  element  of  personal  kindness.  If  we 
would  dry  the  tears  of  those  who  suffer,  the  first  re- 
quirement is  a  gracious  disposition.  This  doctrine,  which 
pervades  the  whole  of  Rabbinic  literature,  is  finely  ex- 
pressed in  Ecclesiasticus  (the  book  of  Ben  Sira),  com- 
posed at  the  dawn  of  the  period,  when  Scribe  and  Phari- 
see were  about  to  replace  prophet  and  psalmist  as  Is- 
rael's spiritual  leaders.  The  following  scattered  verses 
show  how  noble  a  type  of  benevolence  was  preached 
by  Ben  Sira: 


iSAboth  1:2. 
i<5Succah  49b. 

17R.  Eleazar  b.  Pedat  was  himself  exceedingly  poor  and  fre- 
quently sang  the  praises  of  charity.  For  a  collection  of  his 
sayings  on  the  subject,  see  Jewish  Ency.  s.  v.  Eleazar  II. 


64      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

"Reject  not  the  supplication  of  the  afflicted, 

Neither  turn  away  thy  face  from  a  poor  man."  (4 :4) . 

"Fail  not  to  be  with  them  that  weep, 

And  mourn  with  them  that  mourn. 

Be  not  slow  to  visit  the  sick. 

For  that  shall  make  thee  to  be  beloved"  (7:34-35). 

"My  son,  blemish  not  thy  good  deeds, 

Neither  use  uncomfortable  words  when  thou  givest 
anything"  (18:15). 

"Lo,  is  not  a  word  better  than  a  gift, 

But  both  are  with  a  gracious  man"  (18:17). 
All  this  teaching  was  repeated  and  emphasized  by  the 
sages  of  Talmud  and  Midrash.     In  particular,  it  was  a 
favorite  thought  that  a  gracious  word  is  as  essential  as 
a  gracious  deed.18 

In  the  book  of  Tobit,  probably  written  in  the  second 
century  B.  C,  great  stress  is  laid  on  the  meritoriousness 
of  almsgiving.  The  following  passage  is  characteristic: 
"Give  alms  of  thy  substance ;  and  when  thou  givest  alms, 
let  not  thine  eye  be  envious,  neither  turn  thy  face  from 
any  poor,  and  the  face  of  God  shall  not  be  turned  away 
from  thee.  If  thou  hast  abundance,  give  alms  accord- 
ingly: if  thou  hast  but  a  little  be  not  afraid  to  give 
according  to  that  little:  for  thou  layest  up  a  good  treas- 
ure for  thyself  against  the  day  of  necessity.  Because 
that  alms  do  deliver  from  death  and  suffer  not  to  come 
into  darkness."  We  find  here  two  conceptions  that  were 
greatly  developed  in  subsequent  Jewish  teaching.  All 
men,  whether  rich  or  poor,  are  taught  to  give  charity, 


i8Cf.  Baba  Bathra  9b,  Sifre  on  Deut.  15:10. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     65 

so  far  as  their  means  permit.  "Charity  is  like  a  coat 
of  mail,  made  up  of  many  small  scales."19  "Even  the 
poor  man,"  said  Mar  Zutra,  "who  is  himself  supported 
by  charity,  should  give  charity  to  others."20  Indeed  the 
sacrifices  of  the  poor,  like  the  widow's  mite  in  the  New 
Testament,  were  held  to  be  more  acceptable  than  any 
others  for  it  was  their  very  life  that  they  rendered.21 
Equally  characteristic,  if  less  admirable,  is  the  doc- 
trine, found  in  Tobit  as  already  in  Ecclesiasticus,  that 
there  is  an  atoning  power  in  almsgiving.  "Righteous- 
ness (tsedakah)  delivers  from  death,"  we  read  in  the 
Book  of  Proverbs  (10:2).  Tobit  quotes  this  verse, 
but  understands  tsedakah  to  mean  almsgiving.22  This 
false  exegesis,  probably  exemplified  rather  than  orig- 
inated by  Tobit,  has  been  fraught  with  important  re- 
sults to  Judaism  and  Christianity.  The  belief  that  alms- 
giving delivers  from  "death"  (in  whatever  sense  under- 
stood) supplied  a  new  stimulus  for  liberality.  Jewish 
teachers  developed  the  idea  in  two  directions.  Some- 
times they  enlarged  upon  the  redemptive  power  of  alms- 
giving, through  which  our  life  on  earth  becomes  long 
and  prosperous  and  we  escape  a  premature  or  violent 
death;23  sometimes  they  extolled  it  as  a  means  of  salva- 
tion from  the  pangs  of  hell.  The  first  of  these  con- 
ceptions notwithstanding  its  crudity,  had  an  immense 


I'Baba  Bathra  9b. 
20Gittin  7b. 
2iMenachoth  104b. 
22See  Tobit  12:9. 

23Stories  of   miraculous   escape  from  violent  death  through 
a  charitable  deed  are  given  in  Shabbath  156b. 


66      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

influence  on  the  Jewish  consciousness,  so  long  as  be- 
lief in  the  miraculous  was  an  active  force  in  religious 
life.  In  Ecclesiasticus  and  Tobit,  deliverance  from  death 
is  to  be  understood  quite  literally,  for  the  authors  of 
these  books  knew  nothing  of  divine  retribution  in  an- 
other world;  they  still  held  the  ancient  Hebrew  belief 
against  which  Job  so  strongly  protested,  that  virtue  re- 
ceives a  visible  reward  on  earth.  When  belief  in  the 
Resurrection  became  general,  it  did  not  extinguish  men's 
hope  for  earthly  happiness,  which  could  be  secured  some- 
times if  not  always  by  almsgiving  and  other  deeds  pleas- 
ing to  God.  "For  four  causes  a  man  escapes  his  doom; 
because  of  almsgiving,  prayer,  change  of  name,  change  of 
conduct."24  When  Benjamin  the  righteous  was  about 
to  die,  the  angels  interceded  for  him  because  of  his  lib- 
erality to  a  certain  widow  and  twenty-two  years  were 
added  to  his  life.25  When  R.  Meir  visited  the  town  of 
Mamla,  the  inhabitants  asked  for  his  prayers,  because 
they  died  young.  "Busy  yourselves  in  almsgiving,"  he 
said,  and  you  will  be  privileged  to  enjoy  old  age."26 
It  was  believed  that  the  charitable  usually  obtain  worldly 
prosperity.  "God  will  provide  the  man  who  pursues 
after  charity  with  money  to  give  in  charity  and  with 
worthy  persons  upon  whom  to  bestow  it."27  "If  thou 
givest  alms  from  thy  purse,"  said  R.  Abba,  "God  will 
guard  thee  from  town-taxes  and  town-fines,  from  cap- 
itation taxes  and  from  taxes  on  crops."28  It  is  not  worth 


24R0sh  Ha-Shanah  16b. 
2SBaba  Bathra  lla. 
26Bereshith  Rabbah,  Ch.  59. 
27Baba  Bathra  9b. 
28T.   J.   Peah   1:1. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     67 

while  to  repeat  the  extravagant  stories  of  the  Talmud 
about  the  disasters  which  befell  good  men  and  their  fam- 
ilies, because  they  failed  to  render  adequate  and  prompt 
help  to  the  poor.29  More  worthy  of  notice  is  the  admoni- 
tion that  we  should  show  mercy  to  others,  in  the  hope 
that  we  may  receive  mercy  from  them  and  theirs  in  the 
hour  of  need,  for  the  wheel  of  fortune  revolves  and  pov- 
erty will  assuredly  overtake  us  or  some  generation  of  our 
descendants.30  The  self-regarding  motive  for  giving 
charity  is  here  so  etherealized,  that  it  becomes  almost 
altruistic. 

The  Rabbis  teach  without  hesitation  that  God  will  in 
the  hereafter  reward  all  good  deeds,  particularly  acts 
of  personal  kindness.  "These  are  the  things,"  we  read 
in  a  well-known  passage  of  the  Mishna,  which  is  in- 
corporated in  the  Jewish  liturgy,  "the  fruits  of  which 
a  man  enjoys  in  this  world,  whilst  the  stock  remains  for 
him  for  the  world  to  come ;  honoring  father  and  mother, 
the  practice  of  charity,  timely  attendance  at  the  house 
of  study  morning  and  evening,  hospitality  to  wayfarers, 
visiting  the  sick,  dowering  the  bride,  attending  the  dead 
to  the  grave.  *  *  *"31  But  more  stress  is  laid  in 
the  Rabbinical  writings  upon  the  temporal  blessings  with 
which  almsgiving  is  rewarded  than  upon  its  efficacy  in 
the  hereafter.  The  most  interesting  expression  of  the 
latter  thought  is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Monobaz,  the 


29Cf.  the  story  about  the  daughter  of  Nicodemus  b.  Gorion 
(Kethuboth  66b).  For  an  English  rendering  see  The  Story  of 
the  Jewish  People,  by  J.  M.  Myers,  p.  156. 

30Shabbath  ISlb. 

3iPeah  1:1. 


68      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

king  of  Adiabene,  who  sent  large  gifts   for  the  relief 
of  the  poor  of  Jerusalem  in  a  year  of   famine.     His 
brethren  having  protested  against  such  prodigal  expen- 
diture of  his  patrimony,  he  replied: 
"My  ancestors  laid  up  here  on  earth,  I,  in  heaven. 
My  ancestors  laid  up  treasures  where  the  human  hand 

can  reach  them;  I,  where  no  human  hand  can 

reach  them. 
My  ancestors  laid  up  treasures  that  bear  no  fruit;  I, 

such  as  bear  fruit. 
My  ancestors  laid  up  treasures  of  Mammon ;  I,  treasures 

of  souls. 
My  ancestors  gathered  and  will  not  reap  the  benefit;  I 

have  gathered  and  shall  reap  the  benefit. 
My  ancestors  laid  up  treasures  for  this  world;  I,  for 

the  world  to  come."32 

In  this  passage,  as  in  the  book  of  Tobit,  almsgiving 
is  viewed  as  the  provision  of  "good  treasure  against 
the  day  of  necessity."  We  are  reminded  also  of  Ben 
Sira's  counsel,  "Lay  up  thy  treasure  according  to  the 
commandments  of  the  most  High,  and  it  shall  bring  thee 
more  profit  than  gold.  Shut  up  alms  in  thy  storehouses, 
and  it  shall  deliver  thee  from  all  affliction."  (Ecclesias- 
ticus  29:11-12).  A  closer  parallel,  however,  by  reason 
of  its  otherworldliness  is  supplied  by  the  injunction  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  "lay  up  treasures  in  heaven, 
where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where 
thieves  do  not  break  through  nor  steal" (Matth.  6:20).33 


32Tosefta  Peah  IV:20  as  rendered  in  the  Jewish  Ency.,  3.  v. 
Alms. 

33The  Church  borrowed  from  the  Synagogue  the  idea  that 
sins  could  be  remitted  by  almsgiving,  but  gave  to  this  doctrine 
a  much  wider  and  more  injurious  extension.  See  Chadwick, 
The  Church,  the  State  and  the  Poor,  pp.  41-49. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     69 

Such  appeals  to  the  benevolent  are  doubtless  effective  in 
many  instances,  but  they  have  a  bad  influence  in  so  far 
as  they  suggest  the  noxious  doctrine  that  the  poor  exist 
in  order  that  the  rich  may  have  opportunities  to  acquire 
merit.  Indeed,  R.  Akiba  almost  said  as  much.  "If  your 
God  loves  the  poor,"  he  was  asked  by  the  Roman  gov- 
ernor, "why  does  he  not  feed  them?"  R.  Akiba  an- 
swered that  it  was  to  save  us  by  means  of  them  from 
the  judgment  of  Gehenna.34  The  following  Talmudic 
passage  carries  still  further  the  condonation  of  selfish 
charity:  "He  who  says,  I  give  this  piece  of  money  as 
alms  that  my  sons  may  live  or  that  I  may  inherit  eter- 
nal life,  is  acting  as  a  man,  perfectly  righteous."35  The 
Talmud  quotes  this  view  with  some  appearance  of  hesi- 
tation but  makes  no  attempt  to  reject  it.  And  not  al- 
together wrongly.  The  person,  whose  conduct  is  under 
consideration,  must  be  taken  as  having  acted  from  mixed 
motives.  His  desire  to  carry  out  the  commandments 
of  his  Creator  is  combined  with  that  of  promoting  his 
own  advantage.  Such  conduct  is  certainly  far  from 
ideal.  The  inner  grace  corresponds  imperfectly  with  the 
outward  deed  of  charity  and  the  deed  itself  is  unlikely 
to  be  one  of  supremely  efficient  service.  But  imperfect 
righteousness  must  not  be  rejected  with  overmuch  scorn. 
The  lower  motive  does  not  exclude  the  higher  motive; 
it  even  leads  up  to  it.  "Let  a  man  study  the  Law  and 
perform  good  deeds,  even  if  not  for  their  own  sake,  for 
afterwards  he  will  come  to  do  so  for  their  own  sake."36 


3*Baba  Bathra  lOa. 

sspesachim  8a.    See  Rashi's  note  to  the  passage. 

36Pesachim  50b. 


70      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Otherworldliness  may  ultimately  bring  us  to  show  pity 
for  pity's  sake,  or  in  more  theological  language,  we  may 
thus  attain  to  the  disinterested  love  of  God  and  man. 
In  the  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  a  Jewish 
Apocalyptic  work  written  at  the  end  of  the  first  century 
B.  CM  Issachar  is  made  to  speak  as  the  embodiment  of 
this  exalted  benevolence :  "On  all  the  poor  and  oppressed 
I  bestowed  the  good  things  of  the  earth  in  the  singleness 
of  my  heart.  *  *  *  If  any  man  were  in  distress  I 
joined  my  sighs  with  his,  and  I  shared  my  bread  with 
the  poor.  *  *  *  I  loved  the  Lord;  likewise  als« 
every  man  with  all  my  heart."37 

Belief  in  the  atoning  power  of  alms  played  no  more 
than  a  subsidiary  part  in  the  promotion  of  charity  among 
the  Jews.  The  desire  of  personal  advantage  in  this 
world  or  the  next  may  incite  people  to  liberality,  but 
it  will  hardly  make  them  exercise  much  thoughtfulness 
towards  the  poor,  whom  they  are  using  for  their  own 
ends.  Very  different  is  the  practical  sympathy  which 
the  Rabbis  recommended  and  their  people  jpracticed. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  charitable 
Jew  of  the  past  (and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the 
typical  charitable  Jew  of  the  present)  served  his  fellow- 
man  in  a  spirit  of  whole-hearted  humanity.  This  fact 
is  made  apparent  by  the  great  delicacy  of  feeling,  with 
which  charity  was  given  under  the  direction  of  the  Rab- 
bis. It  was  regarded  as  essential  that  the  recipient 
should  not  be  put  to  shame.  Rabbi  Yannai  once  saw 
some  one  giving  a  silver  coin  in  public  to  a  poor  man. 


3?Test.    Issachar  3:8;  7 :5-6. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     71 

"It  would  have  been  better,"  said  he,  "to  give  him  noth- 
ing than  so  to  give  it  that  he  was  put  to  shame."38  It 
in  recorded  in  the  Mishnah  that  the  temple  contained  a 
hall  devoted  to  the  purpose  of  secret  donations:  money 
was  deposited  there  in  secret  by  pious  donors  for  the 
honorable  maintenance  of  poor  persons,  who  were  of 
good  descent.39  Similar  institutions  were  established  in 
other  cities  of  Palestine.40  To  put  money  into  the  char- 
ity box,  of  which  the  overseers  of  the  poor  had  charge, 
was  considered  to  be  the  best  form  of  almsgiving,  because 
the  donors  and  recipients  were  unknown  to  each  other, 
so  that  there  could  be  no  feeling  of  patronage  on  one 
side  nor  of  shame  on  the  other.41  A  quaint  story  is 
related  of  a  certain  worthy  of  the  Talmud,  who  hid 
himself  in  an  oven,  lest  he  should  be  recognized  by  a 
poor  man,  for  whom  he  had  deposited  some  money 
under  the  socket  of  the  door.42  "If  you  have  lent  money 
to  a  poor  man"  said  a  mediaeval  writer,  "who  wishes 
to  repay  the  debt  but  cannot  do  so,  turn  aside  if  you 
see  him  approaching,  lest  he  suppose  that  you  are  in- 
wardly reproaching  him  for  his  indebtedness."43  The 
relief  loan,  which  still  plays  a  large  part  in  Jewish  phil- 
anthropy, was  highly  commended  by  the  Rabbis,  because 
a  poor  man  can  accept  it  without  loss  of  self-respect, 
and  he  will  often  apply  for  a  second  loan,  although 


38Hagigah,  5a. 
39Mishnah,   Shekalim  V,  6. 
«OTosefta  Shekalim  11:16. 
«iBaba  Bathra  lOb. 
*2Kethuboth  67b. 
<3Sefer  Hasidim  327. 


72      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

he  be  ashamed  to  take  a  second  gift.44  In  other  cases,  a 
poor  man  can  best  be  assisted  by  those  who  buy  his 
merchandise  or  give  him  employment.45  "A  loan  is 
better  than  a  gift,"  we  read  elsewhere,  "but  to  take 
a  poor  man  into  partnership  is  the  best  of  all"46  There 
was  a  certain  originality  in  the  charitable  methods  of 
R.  Jonah,  who  resorted  to  a  species  of  pious  and  char- 
itable fraud  in  order  to  spare  the  feelings  of  those  whom 
he  wished  to  benefit.  When  he  saw  a  man  of  good 
family  in  reduced  circumstances,  he  would  pretend  that 
the  latter  had  inherited  property  in  another  town.  "Ac- 
cept this  money,"  he  would  say,  "and  repay  me  in  the 
future."  When  the  proffered  loan  had  been  accepted, 
he  would  declare  that  it  was  intended  as  a  gift,  free 
and  unconditional.47 

I  may  here  mention  another  rule  of  the  Rabbis,  which 
illustrates  their  delicacy  of  feeling  in  dealing  with  the 
unfortunate.  What  is  to  be  done  if  a  widow  and  an 
orphan  present  themselves  to  us  for  relief  and  we  are 
unable  to  assist  both  ?  In  such  circumstances,  the  widow, 
according  to  the  Talmud,  has  the  first  claim  upon  our 
assistance,  for  a  man,  rather  than  a  woman,  is  accus- 
tomed to  beg  from  door  to  door.48  An  interesting  note 
on  this  passage  is  given  by  a  Lithuanian  Rabbi  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  In  his  time,  women  itinerant  beg- 
gars were  numerous;  but  he  declared  that  the  ancient 


"Kethuboth  67b,  Sefer  Hasidim  1034. 
<5Sefer  Hasidim  1035. 
<6Shabbath  63a. 
«?T.  J.  Peah  VIII,  9. 
48Kethuboth  67a. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     73 

rule  must  still  be  observed,  although  the  reason  for  it 
applied  no  longer.49 

Long  before  the  days  of  scientific  philanthropy,  the 
Jews  were  made  aware  that  charity  must  be  adequate. 
The  Rabbis  deduced  this  lesson  from  the  words  of 
Scripture,  "Lend  him  sufficient  for  his  need  in  that 
which  he  wanteth"  (Deut.  15:8).  "Thou  must  support 
the  poor  man,"  they  taught,  "but  thou  needest  not  en- 
rich him.  Yet  thou  must  assist  him  to'  maintain  him- 
self on  a  scale  appropriate  to  his  condition,  so  that  he 
is  fed  and  clothed  in  his  accustomed  manner.  He  must 
even  be  provided,  if  it  be  necessary,  with  a  horse  to 
ride  on  and  a  servant  to  run  before  him."so  On  the 
other  hand  begging  was  discouraged.  When  an  unknown 
applicant  asked  for  alms,  interim  relief  was  given  in  the 
form  of  food,  but  he  received  no  clothing  until  his  case 
had  been  investigated.51  The  Rabbis  lived  in  a  more 
easy-going  age  than  ours;  they  recommended  that  the 
traveling  beggar  should  be  given  his  customary  small 
silver  coin  and  no  more,  but  that  poor  people  of  real 
need  and  desert  should  receive  all  they  required.52 

But  how  can  the  charitable  be  certain  that  their  bene- 
factions are  well  bestowed?  At  least  since  the  age  of 
Ecclesiasticus  we  have  record  of  impostors :  "Many  have 
refused  to  lend  for  other  men's  ill  dealing,  fearing  to 
be  deceived."  (Ecclesiasticus  29:7).  The  prototype  of 
the  rogues,  who  impose  on  the  credulity  of  modern  He- 


49Hachmath  Haadam  s.  145  (2). 
SOSifre  on  Text,  Tosefta  Peah  Ch.  4. 
SiBaba  Bathra  9a. 
52T.  J.  Peah  VIII  :7. 


74      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

brew-Christian  missions  appears  already  in  the  Eccle- 
siastical history  of  Socrates  (c  400).  The  latter  tells  the 
story  of  a  Jew  who,  pretending  to  be  a  convert  to  Chris- 
tianity, had  been  often  baptised  in  different  sects  and  had 
amassed  a  considerable  fortune  by  the  gifts  he  received 
on  these  occasions.53  The  Mishnah  tells  us  of  beggars 
who  counterfeited  physical  deformities;  they  would  pre- 
tend to  be  blind,  lame  or  humpbacked.  A  beggar  of 
Tiberias  died  whilst  he  was  soliciting  alms  and  it  was 
discovered  that  he  had  a  purse  of  gold  in  his  possession.54 
The  comments  of  the  Rabbis  on  cases  such  as  these  are 
instructive.  He  that  "pursues  not  after  charity"  is  pun- 
ished, they  tell  us,  in  that  his  gifts  go  to  the  undeserv- 
ing.55 This  is  a  remark  of  permanent  value.  To  avoid 
wasting  our  charity,  we  must  take  trouble  about  it. 
'Happy  is  he,'  (not  who  gives  to  the  poor  but)  'who  con- 
siders the  poor,'  (Ps.  41 :1)  for  he  takes  thought  how 
he  can  best  carry  out  the  duty  of  showing  benevolence.56 
Yet  the  Rabbis  would  not  have  us  be  oversuspicious.  In 
cases  of  uncertainty,  the  poor  man  is  to  have  the  bene- 
fit of  the  doubt :  "the  giver  gives  and  let  the  recipient  be- 
think himself.'57  A  case  is  mentioned  in  which  a  man, 
suspected  to  be  an  impostor,  proved  not  to  be  so.  Dur- 
ing his  lifetime  the  world  had  mocked  at  him  for  ac- 
cepting charity.  After  his  death,  it  was  discovered  that 
he  had  given  away  to  other  poor  men  all  that  he  had  re- 


S3Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  (Vol.  II  p.  80  n.). 
5«T.  J.  Peah  VIII  :9. 
sSBaba  Bathra  9b. 
56T.  J.  Peah  VIII:  9 

57Op.  cit.  VIII  :7.     Cf.  also  the  following  dictum  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles   (an  ancient 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     75 

ceived.58  "Be  grateful  to  impostors"  said  one  of  the  Rab- 
bis. "If  there  were  no  impostors,  every  refusal  of  alms 
would  be  a  flagrant  sin." 

The  Rabbis  are  careful  to  advise  us  not  to  expect  grat- 
itude from  those  whom  we  benefit;  indeed  those  who 
expect  gratitude  rob  their  good  deeds  of  all  grace  and 
deserve  no  thanks.  R.  Eleazar  b  Pedath  was  once  told 
on  his  return  home  that  a  company  of  wayfarers  had 
been  fed  at  his  house  and  that  they  had  prayed  for  him 
as  a  token  of  gratitude.  'I  have  no  reward,'  said  he.  On 
another  occasion,  he  was  informed  that  a  similar  com- 
pany, after  receiving  entertainment  had  cursed  him. 
'Now,  I  have  a  good  reward,'  he  said.  The  Rabbi  in 
question  was  acting  as  an  overseer  of  charity,  and  this 
task  was  then,  as  it  always  is,  a  thankless  one.  When 
the  same  post  was  offered  to  R.  Akiba  in  an  earlier  age, 
he  asked  his  wife  whether  he  should  accept  it.  'Yes,' 
she  said,"  on  the  clear  understanding  that  you  will  be 
cursed  and  despised.59  R.  Akiba's  administration  of  the 
office  was  certainly  not  lacking  in  vigor,  for  he  levied 
heavy  contributions  upon  men  of  means  for  the  support 
of  the  poor.60  But  he  obtained  in  full  measure  the  only 
popularity  worth  having — that  which  comes  unsought. 

An  important  regulation  about  charity  was  made  at 
Usha  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  probably  at 

Jewish  work,  revised  for  Christian  use)  :  "Blessed  be  he  that 
giveth  according  to  the  commandments  for  he  is  blameless,  but 
he  that  had  not  need  shall  give  account,  wherefore  he  received 
and  for  what." 

58Qp.  cit.  VIII  :9. 

*»T.  J.  Peah  VIII  :7. 

«°See   Vayikra   Kabbah   Ch.   34. 


76      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

the  synod  which  was  convened  in  this  city  of  Galilee 
The  period  was  critical.  The  persecution  which  followed 
the  suppression  of  the  Bar  Coziba's  rebellion  was  over, 
but  its  effects  remained  in  the  widespread  misery  that  pre- 
vailed. To  relieve  this  misery,  it  was  decided  that  men 
should  devote  one-fifth  of  their  possessions  to  charity. 
Yet  characteristic  moderation  was  observed.  No  further 
sacrifice  was  required  from  any  one,  nor  was  it  even 
sanctioned.  A  certain  R.  Yeshebab  desired  to  distribute 
amongst  the  poor  all  that  he  had,  but  he  was  not  permit- 
ted to  do  so.61  As  a  permanent  law  of  Rabbinical  Juda- 
ism, the  regulation  of  Usha  is  only  applied  in  this  nega- 
tive sense.  Indeed,  it  is  recorded  in  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud as  a  restraint  on  charity:  "However  liberal  a  man 
may  be,  he  must  not  give  away  to  the  poor  more  than  one 
fifth  of  his  possessions."62  This  rule  does  not  apply  how- 
ever to  testamentary  dispositions  of  property.  Mar  Ukba 
left  half  his  fortune  to  charity,  for  he  said :  "My  provision 
is  scanty  and  the  journey  is  long."63  During  a  man's 
life-time,  he  was  expected  to  devote  a  tithe  of  his  income 
to  charity — a  liberal  but  not  excessive  proportion. 

Another  decree  issued  at  Usha  throws  light  upon  our 
subject.  It  was  enacted  that  children  must  be  main- 
tained by  parents  during  their  early  years.64  This  order 
was  necessitated  by  the  great  poverty  of  the  time,  for 
many  parents  were  tempted  to  throw  upon  the  commun- 
ity the  burden  of  their  children's  maintenance.  The  Rabbis 

61T.  J.  Peah  1:1. 
WKethuboth  50a. 
«3Kethuboth  67b. 
«<Kethuboth  49b. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     77 

took  steps  to  prevent  so  grave  a  neglect  of  parental  duty. 
By  mieans  of  the  law  just  cited  and  others  of  similar  char- 
acter, they  made  it  clear  that  charity  begins  at  home.  A 
man's  first  duty  is  to  maintain  himself,  his  wife  and  his 
young  children.  If  he  can  do  anything  further,  he  must 
support  his  grown-up  children  and  his  parents,  should 
they  be  in  need.65  A  mediaeval  writer  expresses  indig- 
nation at  the  conduct  of  a  rich  man,  who  gave  a  large 
sum  of  money  in  charity  but  left  his  own  kinsmen  to 
starve.66  Charity  to  poor  relatives  comes  before  charity 
to  strangers.  It  is  also  taught  that  local  charities  are  en- 
titled to  our  support  in  preference  to  those  of  another 
city.67 

That  Jewish  charity  went  mainly  to  Jews  was  a  matter 
of  course.  It  was  not,  however,  entirely  limited  to  them. 
The  only  person  absolutely  excluded  from  assistance  was 
the  Jew,  who  transgressed  the  Law  deliberately  and  im- 
penitently.68  "For  the  sake  of  peace,"  we  read  in  the 
Mishnah,  "the  gentile  poor  are  not  prevented  from  sharing 


6SA  man's  duty  to  himself  is  affirmed  in  R.  Akiba's  dictum: 
"Thine  own  life  comes  before  thy  neighbor's  life"  (Baba 
Metzia  62a).  The  duties  of  husband  to  wife  receive  elaborate 
consideration  in  the  Talmud.  The  maintenance  of  children  un- 
til their  seventh  year  was  an  absolute  obligation  (Kethuboth 
65b)  ;  after  they  reached  this  age,  it  was  in  theory  within  the 
father's  discretion  to  refuse  them  support,  but  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  put  such  pressure  upon  him  that  he  could  not  exer- 
cise this  discretion  if  he  was  in  possession  of  means  (See  Com- 
mentary of  Maimonides  on  Mishnah,  Kethuboth  IV  :6)  The 
passages  from  the  Talmud,  which  deal  with  a  son's  obligation 
to  support  his  father  are  collected  in  Tosafoth  on  Kiddushin 
32a. 

"Sefer  Hasidim  324. 

6?Baba  Metzia  71a. 

«8Gittin  47a. 


78      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

in  the  gleanings  of  the  harvest."  On  the  same  principle, 
they  were  given  alms  together  with  the  Jewish  poor, 
their  sick  were  visited  and  their  dead  were  buried.69 
These  tolerant  regulations  probably  date  from  the  time 
of  King  Agrippa,  under  whom  the  Jews  enjoyed  the 
last  period  of  happiness  and  of  comparative  freedom 
that  was  theirs  before  the  destruction  of  the  second 
temple.  Josephus  tells  us  of  this  good  king  that  he 
was  equally  humane  and  liberal  to  all  men,  whether 
natives  or  foreigners.70  During  his  reign,  the  Sanhedrin, 
under  the  direction  of  Gamaliel  the  elder,  originated  va- 
rious laws  for  the  promotion  of  social  order  and  these 
may  well  have  included  regulations  about  charity,  which 
embodied  Agrippa's  benevolent  intentions  towards  for- 
eigners.71 During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Jews  contin- 
ued to  behave  charitably  to  non-Jews:  "they  do  relieve 
all  their  own  poor,"  wrote  Leon  of  Modena  (17th  cen- 
tury), "and  besides  these  they  do  upon  all  occasions 
help  any  object  of  charity,  let  him  be  what  he  will."72 
In  some  places,  it  was  customary  to  give  alms  to  gen- 
tiles on  the  feast  of  Purim.73 

A  rule,  equally  ancient  in  origin  but  opposite  in 
tendency,  is  that  which  discourages  the  acceptance  of 
charity  from  gentiles.  When  first  made,  it  was  directed 
against  the  use  of  tainted  money.  Just  as  the  sacrifice 


6'Gittin  S9b  and  61  a. 

70Antiquities,  Book  19  Ch.  7. 

71  See  Graetz,  Gesch.  d  Juden,  Vol.  Ill  p.  349,  Weiss,  Dor  1, 178 

^"History  of  the  Present  Jews  Throughout  the  World," 
translated  from  Leon  of  Modena's  Italian  work  by  Simon 
Ockley  (1707). 

73Qrach  Chayim  694  (3). 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     79 

of  the  wicked  was  an  abomination,  so  were  the  con- 
tributions to  charity  of  malefactors  such  as  the  farmers 
of  taxes,  whose  whole  wealth  was  based  upon  oppression 
and  robbery.74  Gifts  for  the  support  of  the  poor  and 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  temple  must,  in  like  man- 
ner, have  always  been  accepted  with  reluctance,  when 
they  were  offered  by  public  enemies.  They  were  at 
last  declined.  Josephus  declares  that  it  was  'the  begin- 
ning of  our  war  with  the  Romans'  when  the  governor 
of  the  Temple  persuaded  those  who  officiated  in  the  Di- 
vine Service  to  receive  no  gift  or  sacrifice  from  any  for- 
eigner.75 This  seems  to  have  been  the  occasion  for  a 
stormy  meeting,  described  in  the  Talmud,  when  "eighteen 
articles"  were  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  Rabbis  pres- 
ent, in  accordance  with  the  ideas  of  the  school  of  Sham- 
mai.76  According  to  the  best  opinion,  these  articles  all 
restricted  intercourse  between  Jew  and  gentile,  an  order 
to  reject  all  gifts  offered  by  the  latter  being  included 
in  the  number.  We  read  of  a  later  objection,  raised 
against  the  acceptance  of  charity  from  gentiles,  in  a 
remark  of  Rab  Nahman,  a  Babylonian  teacher  of  the 
fourth  century.  He  describes  those  who  accept  such 
presents  as  persons  "who  eat  something  unmentionable" 
and  declares  their  action  to  be  profanation  of  the  Divine 
Name.77  The  language  is  unseemly,  but  the  view  is  an 


7*Mishnah  Baba  Kama  X:l. 

™ Jewish  War,  11:17. 

?6The  leading  passage  is  T.  J.  Shabbath  1 :4.  I  adopt  Graetz'» 
view  as  to  the  occasion  and  nature  of  the  '"eighteen  articles." 
See  the  Hebrew  translation  of  his  history  (Vol.  II,  pp.  90-93) 
for  a  full  discussion  of  the  subject. 

77Sanhedrin  26b. 


80      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

intelligible  one,  for  it  rests  upon  the  underlying  idea  that 
Jews  bring  discredit  upon  themselves  and  their  religion 
when  they  fail  to  support  their  own  poor.  Hence  a 
Jew  is  not  permitted,  according  to  Rabbinical  law,  to 
receive  aid  from  a  gentile  except  under  stress  of  dire 
necessity.  A  grant  made  by  a  king  to  a  Jewish  con- 
gregation is,  however,  to  be  accepted  as  a  matter  of  policy. 
His  present  should  be  passed  on  to  the  gentile  poor,  if 
it  is  possible  to  do  so  without  deceiving  the  royal  donor.78 
Yet  the  Talmud  contains  one  fine  appreciation  at  least, 
of  the  charity  practiced  by  non-Jews.  This  is  the  well- 
known  utterance  of  R.  Johanan  b  Zakkai:  "As  a  sin- 
offering  makes  atonement  for  Israel,  so  alms  for  the 
Gentiles.79 

The  teaching  of  the  Rabbis  was  addressed  not  only 
to  those  who  gave  charity,  but  also  to  those  who  con- 
templated receiving  it.  The  latter  were  urged  to  make 
every  possible  effort  to  retain  their  independence.  "Make 
thy  Sabbath  as  bare  of  all  comfort  as  a  week-day,"  said 
R.  Akiba,  "but  do  not  become  dependent  on  others."80 
Another  Rabbi  said  to  a  learned  colleague,  "Flay  an  ox 
in  the  market  and  take  thy  wages ;  say  not,  I  am  a  great 
man  and  the  work  is  beneath  my  dignity."81  "Blessed 
be  the  man  who  trusts  in  the  Lord" — such  a  man  is  he 
who  pinches  himself  that  he  may  continue  to  be  self- 
supporting.  But  the  Rabbis  recognized  also  that  every 
virtue,  even  that  of  independence,  may  be  carried  to  ex- 

'«Baba  Bathra  lOb. 
"I.  c. 
«OShabbath  118a. 

Bathra  HOa. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY     81 

cess.  Those  who  are  incapacitated  from  work  by  age 
or  disease  must  consent  to  take  charity;  if  they  refuse 
it,  they  are  accounted  as  self-murderers.82  Yet  it  is  a 
bitter  experience  for  honorable  men  to  become  dependent 
on  the  bounty  of  others.  In  a  prayer,  which  certain 
sages  of  the  Talmud  recommended  for  daily  use,  the 
suppliant  exclaims  "Grant  that  we  may  not  be  obliged 
to  ask  the  help  of  men,  and  let  not  our  food  be  de- 
pendent on  their  bounty,  for  their  gifts  are  small,  but 
the  shame  they  inflict  is  great."83 

Weiss,  in  his  history  of  Jewish  tradition,  points  out 
how  great  was  the  development  of  laws,  relating  to 
almsgiving  and  benevolence,  when  Israel  lived  under 
the  Romans.  In  his  opinion,  the  Rabbis  found  it  nec- 
essary to  emphasize  their  people's  duty  towards  the  poor 
in  order  to  counteract  alien  influences,  which  were  cal- 
culated to  corrupt  the  pristine  Jewish  virtues.84  This 
theory  as  to  the  motive,  which  actuated  the  Rabbis,  may 
or  may  not  be  correct;  but  their  actual  teaching  speaks 
for  itself.  The  ideal  Israelite,  as  they  pictured  him,  was 
merciful,  modest,  benevolent;85  they  exerted  themselves 
to  the  utmost  to  convert  this  characterization  into  a 
reality.  There  are  abundant  proofs,  some  of  which  have 
been  collected  in  these  lectures,  that  their  efforts  were 
successful  and  that  Jewish  charity  was  habitual,  warm- 
hearted and  exemplary.  Thus  the  claim  that  "Chris- 
tianity for  the  first  time  made  charity  a  rudimentary 


82End  of  Peah,  Mishnah  and  T.  J. 
83T.  J.  Berachoth  IV  :2. 
«<Weiss,  Dor  11:24-26. 
85Yebamoth  79a. 


82      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

virtue"  can  only  be  admitted,  in  so  far  as  it  refers  to 
the  gentile  world.  The  triumphs  of  Christian  charity 
have  been  illustrious,  but  the  church  has  achieved  them 
by  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Synagogue. 

A  wise  benevolence  has  an  eye  for  the  future.  It  is 
not  satisfied  with  palliatives  for  the  relief  of  destitu- 
tion; it  desires  to  see  destitution  abolished.  How  far 
were  the  Rabbis  alive  to  this  requirement?  Absolutely 
so  in  their  dealings  with  individual  cases  of  poverty. 
They  were  not  satisfied  with  feeding  the  poor;  their 
great  ideal  was  not  to  allow  man  to  be  poor  and  they 
preferred,  when  it  was  possible,  to  help  their  struggling 
brethren  to  help  themselves.86  But  the  Rabbis  (or  at 
least  a  majority  of  them)  had  a  wider  vision  still.  Their 
hope  was  that  of  a  good  time  to  come  in  which  poverty 
should  be  no  more.  In  a  well-known  passage  of  the 
Talmud,87  Mar  Samuel  declares  that  in  the  days  of  the 
Messiah  Israel  will  be  free  from  alien  rule  but  the  world's 
life  will  continue  unchanged  in  other  respects,  for 
it  is  written  that  "the  poor  shall  not  cease  from  the 
land."  He  realizes  that  a  world  without  poverty  would 
be  an  earthly •  paradise;  unfortunately,  as  he  supposes, 
such  a  world  will  never  be.  More  consonant  with  Jew- 
ish teaching,  however,  is  that  brighter  view  of  the  fu- 
ture, which  is  put  forward  by  R.  Johanan  in  the  same 
passage:  "All  the  promises  of  the  prophets  will  be  ful- 
filled in  the  days  of  the  Messiah  and  not  deferred  until 
the  next  world ;  as  to  the  joys  of  the  hereafter,  they  have 
been  revealed  to  no  human  eye."  Thus  the  Messianic 


86See  Schechter  Some  Aspects  of  Rabbinic  Theology,  p.  112. 
87Berachoth  34b. 


SOME  RABBINIC  CONCEPTS  OF  SOCIAL  DUTY    83 

era  is  pictured  as  one  of  diffused  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness. These  material  blessings  form  a  fitting  background 
for  the  spiritual  graces  of  transfigured  humanity  in  the 
golden  age  to  be. 


IV 
JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

It  is  a  boast  of  the  Jewish  people  that  they  support 
their  own  poor  everywhere  and  always.  In  modern 
times  this  claim  cannot  be  entirely  substantiated.  Jew- 
ish charities  cover  a  wide  field,  but  many  services  requis- 
ite for  the  relief  of  distress  are  no  longer  rendered  on 
denominational  lines.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  on  the  other 
hand,  Jewish  communities  throughout  the  world  were 
set  in  an  environment,  indifferent  at  best  and  often  ac- 
tively hostile.  "All  Israelites,"  said  Maimonides,  "and 
those  who  have  joined  them  are  as  brethren.  To  whom 
shall  they  lift  up  their  eyes  for  help  in  times  of  need? 
Not  to  the  gentiles  who  hate  and  persecute  them,  but 
to  their  own  brethren."1  The  assistance  required  was 
supplied  by  individual  benefactors,  as  well  as  by  organ- 
ized communal  societies.  It  was  not  confined  to  the 
local  poor;  coreligionists  arriving  from  other  parts  of 
the  world  also  received  their  share.  The  sense  of  soli- 
darity in  Israel  was  strengthened  by  persecution,  so 
prevalent  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  not  extinct  even  to- 
day. 

One  of  the  chief  forms  of  mediaeval  charity  was  the 
ransom  of  captives.  Assistance  of  this  character  was 


iMatnoth  Aniyim,  Ch.  10  s.  2. 

85 


86      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

already  rendered  in  Bible  times.  "We  after  our  abil- 
ity," said  Nehemiah,  "have  redeemed  our  brethren  the 
Jews,  who  were  sold  to  the  heathen"  (Neh.  5:8),  that 
is  to  say,  he  had  purchased  the  freedom  of  those  whom 
he  found  to  be  working  off  debts  in  the  service  of  non- 
Jews.  So  to  act  was  considered  as  the  fulfilment  of  a 
most  sacred  duty,  for  slavery  is  such  a  terrible  calam- 
ity. "The  sword  is  worse  than  natural  death,  for  the 
sword  disfigures;  famine  is  worse  than  the  sword,  for 
famine  tortures;  captivity  is  the  worst  of  all,  for  it  may 
involve  them  all."2  Money  collected  for  other  purposes, 
even  for  the  building  of  the  temple  or  the  relief  of  the 
poor,  might  be  appropriated  for  the  ransom  of  captives. 
To  delay  this  duty  was  not  permitted  lest  loss  of  life 
should  follow.  Not  that  it  was  possible  to  save  all  Jews 
from  slavery.  "The  prisoner  unaided  cannot  deliver 
himself  from  the  dungeon,"3  says  the  Talmudic  prov- 
erb ;  collective  Israel  was  often  too  weak  to  rescue  more 
than  a  stray  few  of  the  suffering  children  of  Israel. 
Notably  was  this  the  case  after  the  destruction  of  the 
temple  by  the  Romans  and  after  the  suppression  of  Bar 
Coziba's  rebellion.  Such  numbers  of  Jews,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  were  sold  into  slavery  on  both  these 
occasions  that  they  fetched  very  low  prices:  it  seemed 
like  a  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  "Ye  shall  sell  your- 
selves unto  your  enemies  for  bondmen  and  for  bond- 
women and  no  man  shall  buy  you"  (Deut.  28:68).  Most 
of  the  victims  had  to  resign  themselves  to  their  hard  fate ; 


2Baba  Bathra  8b. 
3Berachoth  5b. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES         87 

but  occasionally  they  received  manumission  from  their 
masters  and  occasionally  brothers  in  faith  were  enabled 
to  purchase  their  liberty.  When  R.  Joshua  b  Hananiah 
visited  Rome,  he  heard  that  there  was  in  prison  a  pretty 
Jewish  boy,  curly  haired  and  open  eyed.  The  Rabbi  went 
to  the  gate  of  the  prison  and  recited  the  question,  taken 
from  the  book  of  Isaiah,  "Who  gave  Jacob  for  a  spoil 
and  Israel  to  the  robbers?"  (Isaiah  42:24).  The  child 
immediately  recognized  and  completed  the  quotation: 
"Did  not  the  Lord?  He  against  whom  we  have  sinned, 
and  in  whose  ways  they  would  not  walk,  neither  were 
they  obedient  to  his  law."  Thereupon  R.  Joshua  swore 
that  he  would  redeem  a  child  of  such  promise  whatever 
might  be  the  ransom  required.  He  did  so  and  the  child 
grew  up  to  be  the  renowned  teacher,  R.  Ishmael  b 
Elisha.4  The  very  large  ransom  paid  in  this  case  was 
considered  justifiable,  because  it  procured  the  release 
of  a  promising  scholar.  Otherwise,  no  higher  price  might 
be  paid  for  any  captive  than  that  which  he  would  fetch, 
if  sold  in  the  slave-market.  This  restriction  was  made 
in  the  interests  of  the  community,  lest  the  kidnapping  of 
Jewish  captives  might  become  too  profitable  a  business. 
Similarly,  Jewish  captives  might  not  be  assisted  to  es- 
cape, lest  the  safety  of  other  captives  or  of  the  whole 
community  should  be  endangered.  But  these  rules  could 
hardly  be  maintained  in  practice.  Jewish  captives  had 
often  to  be  ransomed  at  any  cost  in  the  Middle  Ages 
in  order  that  they  might  be  saved  from  death  or  mutila- 
tion. Curiously  enough,  in  the  leading  case  of  refusal 

«Gittin  58a. 


88      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

to  pay  excessive  ransom,  the  restriction  imposed  by  the 
Mishnah  did  not  apply,  for  the  victim  was  R.  Meir  of 
Rothenberg,  the  spiritual  leader  of  the  Jews  of  Ger- 
many in  the  thirteenth  century.  He  performed  a  sub- 
lime act  of  self-abnegation  and  refused  to  imperil  the 
freedom  of  other  Rabbis  by  allowing  his  brethren  to  pay 
the  Emperor  Rudolph  an  exorbitant  sum  for  his  release. 
Thus  this  noble  captive  languished  in  custody  for  the 
rest  of  his  life;  but  many  another  prisoner  (sometimes 
an  ignoble  one)  was  ransomed.  Meir  Lublin,  a  Polish 
Rabbi  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  asked  whether  the 
community  should  ransom  a  young  man,  who,  having 
been  arrested  by  the  gentiles  on  the  charge  of  inter- 
course with  a  harlot,  was  in  danger  of  death  or  forced 
conversion.  The  Rabbi  advised  that  this  should  be 
done,  whatever  might  be  the  cost.  The  charge,  in  his 
opinion,  was  a  mere  pretext;  even  if  it  could  be  sub- 
stantiated, the  offense  was  not  a  capital  one  according 
to  gentile  law.  The  true  purpose  of  the  authorities  was 
that  of  extracting  money  from  the  Jews  of  the  locality 
and  a  refusal  to  pay  in  the  case  under  consideration 
would  be  followed  by  other  charges,  still  more  danger- 
ous to  the  community.  If  the  young  man  were  forced 
into  apostasy  he  might  be  made  to  slander  his  brethren 
and  there  was  no  knowing  how  the  matter  might  end.5 
This  incident  occurring  at  a  time  and  place  in  which  the 
Jews  were  comparatively  well  off  is  instructive  as  il- 
lustrating the  wariness  with  which  the  Jews  had  to  steer 
their  way  through  the  perils  that  constantly  threatened 
them  during  the  Middle  Ages. 


5Meir  Lublin,  Resp.  IS. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES          89 

The  "ransom  of  captives"  sometimes  meant  in  prac- 
tice the  payment  of  money  to  procure  the  release  of  actual 
criminals.  It  was  felt  that  they  must  be  rescued  from 
torture  and  the  other  barbarities,  practiced  in  a  mediaeval 
dungeon.  Thus  Rabbi  Jair  Bachrach  (seventeenth  cen- 
tury) pleaded  with  his  brethren  to  strive  for  the  release 
of  a  certain  "notorious  Jewish  thief,"  who  was  being 
punished  with  excessive  severity.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  goes  on  to  say,  no  steps  should  be  taken  for  the  ben- 
efit of  persons,  convicted  of  making  or  wilfully  circu- 
lating false  coins,  lest  it  be  thought  that  this  offense, 
practiced  by  a  certain  number  of  degenerate  Jews,  was 
condoned  by  the  community.  To  purchase  the  pardon 
of  a  thief  was  not  open  to  the  same  objection,  "for  there 
are  thousands  of  thieves  amongst  Christians."6  Meir 
Lublin  discusses  in  one  of  his  responsa  the  rare  case  of  a 
Jewish  murderer,  whom  the  gentiles  had  taken  into  cus- 
tody. He  advised  that  no  action  should  be  taken  to 
avert  the  infliction  of  a  death  penalty.7  In  the  seven- 
teenth century,  we  find  the  following  fine  pronouncement 
by  a  Lithuanian  Rabbi:  "I  emphatically  protest  against 
the  custom  of  our  communal  leaders  of  purchasing  the 
freedom  of  Jewish  criminals.  Such  a  policy  encourages 
crime  among  our  people.  I  am  especially  troubled  by  the 
fact  that,  thanks  to  the  clergy,  such  criminals  may  escape 
punishment  by  adopting  Christianity.  Mistaken  piety  im- 
pels our  leaders  to  bribe  the  officials  in  order  to  prevent 
such  conversions.  We  should  endeavor  to  deprive  crim- 
inals of  opportunities  to  escape  justice."8 

«Quoted  in  Pithe  Teshubah  on  Yoreh  Deah  251   (2). 
?Meir  Lublin,  Resp.  138. 
^Jewish  Ency.  s.  v.  Lithuania. 


90      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Needless  to  say,  most  of  the  "captives"  who  required 
assistance,  were  not  criminals  but  the  victims  of  crime. 
There  were  many  such  throughout  the  Middle  Ages, 
even  at  the  best  of  times.  Compared  with  the  general 
population,  many  of  the  Jews  were  great  travelers  and 
the  perils  of  travel  were  then  great.  To  cross  the  Med- 
iterranean was  an  adventure  indeed,  when  pirates  abound- 
ed and  when  certain  ship-captains  were  capable  of  selling 
their  own  passengers  into  slavery.  To  purchase  the  free- 
dom of  kidnapped  Jews,  who  were  exposed  for  sale  in  a 
slave  market  was  regarded  as  a  plain  duty  by  the  local 
congregation.  It  was  thus  that  the  Jews  of  Cordova, 
towards  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  procured  the 
manumission  of  an  unknown  stranger  and  thus  obtained 
the  services  of  a  distinguished  Rabbi,  who  not  only  su- 
pervised the  affairs  of  their  own  community  but  took  the 
first  decisive  steps  towards  making  Spain  a  centre  of 
Talmudic  study.  But  it  was  at  times  of  acute  persecu- 
tion that  the  ransom  of  the  captives  was  effected  on  the 
largest  scale.  Wide  as  the  bounds  of  Jewish  dispersion 
were  the  operations  of  Jewish  charity ;  had  this  not  been 
the  case,  Judaism  would  have  been  long  extinct.  Above 
all,  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain  spurred  their 
brethren  in  other  countries  to  make  supreme  efforts  for 
their  deliverance  from  death,  slavery  or  forced  conver- 
sion. Quite  similar  was  the  course  of  events  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  seventeenth  century,  at  the  time  of  the  Cos- 
sacks' invasion.  Once  again  Israel  suffered  widespread 
destruction  and  once  again  brotherly  love  proved  to  be 
stronger  than  death.  In  the  year  1648,  three  thousand 
Jews  of  Podolia,  who  had  surrendered  to  the  Tartars 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES         91 

of  the  Crimea  in  order  to  escape  massacre,  were  ran- 
somed by  their  brethren  of  Constantinople;  and  messen- 
gers were  sent  to  Germany  and  Italy,  in  order  that  funds 
might  be  collected  for  the  continuance  of  the  work.  The 
need  was  immense,  for  the  sufferers  were  numbered  by 
hundreds  of  thousands,  but  Jewish  congregations  in  all 
parts  of  Europe  and  of  northern  Africa  did  their  utmost 
to  meet  it.  The  Jews  of  Germany  had  themselves  suf- 
fered through  the  ravages  of  the  thirty  years'  war,  but 
they  responded  nobly  to  the  appeal  of  their  brethren. 
In  the  year  1656,  the  members  of  the  Leghorn  community 
gave  one-fourth  of  their  incomes  .towards  the  ransom 
of  captives  and  the  relief  of  refugees  from  Poland.  Thus 
the  solidarity  of  Israel  was  nobly  vindicated.9 

Hospitality  to  strangers  is  the  form  of  personal  serv- 
ice, which  is  first  recorded  in  the  early  pages  of  the  Bible 
and  there  must  have  been  opportunities  to  practice  it  in 
the  most  primitive  conditions  of  society.  The  circum- 
stances of  Jewish  history  have  always  accentuated  the 
importance  of  showing  hospitality.  The  "'wandering 
Jew"  has  been  and  still  is  a  typical  figure.  Sometimes 
he  has  been  a  traveling  scholar,  open  eyed  and  impe- 
cunious; sometimes  he  has  left  his  home  in  quest  of  a 
livelihood;  sometimes  he  has  been  the  victim  of  perse- 
cution, fleeing  alone  or  in  company  with  others  to  seek 
for  an  asylum  in  distant  lands.  Whatever  were  the 
circumstances  of  the  mediaeval  wanderer,  he  seldom  lacked 
good  cheer  in  the  homes  of  his  coreligionists  who  be- 
lieved that  when  the  poor  man  stood  at  their  gate,  God 


"See  Hebrew  Graetz,  VIII  153. 


92      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

was  on  his  right  hand.10  "Let  thy  house  be  opened 
wide,"  said  R.  Yose  b  Yohanan,  a  president  of  the  San- 
hedrin  in  the  second  century  B.  C,  "and  make  the  poor 
to  be  inmates  of  thy  house."11  Rab  Huna,  a  wealthy 
Babylonian  teacher  of  the  third  century,  is  said  to  have 
opened  the  doors  of  his  house  before  every  meal,  and 
to  have  made  proclamation,  "whosoever  is  hungry,  let 
him  come  and  eat."12  A  general  invitation  to  all  and 
sundry  was  considered  to  be  particularly  appropriate 
on  the  Passover  evening  and  Rab  Huna's  greeting  to  the 
hungry  is  still  recited  at  the  beginning  of  the  domestic 
service  for  that  occasion.  But  it  has  long  been  im- 
practicable to  keep  open  house.  This  is  already  noted  by 
Rab  Mattithiah,  head  of  one  of  the  Babylonian  academies 
(c  861).  "Our  fathers,"  he  said,  "were  accustomed  to 
leave  their  doors  open,  so  that  any  poor  Jew  might  enter, 
but  nowadays  most  of  our  neighbors  are  gentiles.  We 
therefore  provide  the  brethren  with  Passover  relief  before 
the  festival  begins,  lest  they  be  forced  to  beg  at  our  doors, 
and  we  continue  to  repeat  the  words,  which  custom  has 
consecrated,13 

The  food  which  a  man  gives  to  the  poor  at  his  own 
table  is  declared  in  the  Talmud  to  be  the  equivalent  of 
an  offering  presented  on  the  altar.14  This  being  so,  it 
was  held  that  our  hospitality  like  the  sacrifices  of  ancient 
days,  should  be  given  from  our  best.  We  must  feed 


lOLeviticus  Rabbah  Ch.  34. 

UAboth  1:5. 

!2Taanith  20b. 

13Quoted  by  Abudarham  in  his  commentary  on  the  Haggadah. 

"Hagigah  27a. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES          93 

the  hungry  with  the  sweetest  dishes  on  our  table  and 
clothe  the  naked  with  our  most  beautiful  coverings.15 
The  manner  in  which  hospitality  was  shown  was  also 
considered  to  be  of  great  importance.16  Guests  should 
be  received  with  a  pleasant  countenance ;  food  should  be 
handed  to  them  at  once  for  they  may  be  ashamed  to 
ask.  Although  the  host  feel  sad  he  should  beam  on  his 
guests.  Let  him  not  tell  them  his  troubles,  lest  they  sus- 
pect that  he  is  displeased  to  see  them.  He  must  try  to 
make  them  feel  that  his  only  cause  for  regret  is  in 
being  unable  to  give  more.  After  entertaining  them  with 
the  best  fare  at  his  disposal,  he  should  provide  them 
with  a  comfortable  bed,  for  good  rest  gives  more  sat- 
isfaction than  good  food  itself.  Moreover  he  should 
escort  them  on  their  way,  when  they  depart,  and  he 
should  give  them  provision  for  the  next  stage  of  their 
journey.  This  last  lesson  is  deduced  by  the  Talmud 
from  the  declaration  which  was  to  be  made  by  the  elders 
of  the  city,  nearest  to  the  scene  of  an  undiscovered  mur- 
der. "Our  hands,"  said  they,  "have  not  shed  the  blood 
and  our  eyes  have  not  seen  it"  (Deut.  21:7).  "Who 
would  suppose  that  the  elders  of  the  city  had  shed 
blood?  The  meaning  is  however  that  they  have  allowed 
no  stranger  to  depart  unprovided  with  food  and  with 
escort  for  the  journey."17 

Guests  were   warned  that  they  must  not  abuse  the 
hospitality  of  their  host.    The  professional  diner  out  was 


iSYoreh  Deah  248  (8),  following  Maimonides. 
l6The   rules   for  hospitality  which   I  mention  are  those  col- 
lected in  the  Menorath  Ha-Maor  by  Isaac  Aboab  (c.  1300). 
i7Sotah  46b. 


94      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

condemned.18  The  guest  who  brought  another  guest 
with  him  was  regarded  as  the  meanest  of  mankind.19 
Those  who  entered  the  house  of  another  man  were  to 
comply  with  all  his  requests.20  They  must  do  nothing 
to  cause  annoyance  to  him  or  to  their  fellow  guests. 
They  must  accept  his  hospitality  heartily  and  grate- 
fully; at  the  end  of  the  meal  they  must  pray  for  his 
welfare.21  Some  Jewish  rules  of  etiquette  for  the  guid- 
ance of  guests  resemble  those  which  obtain  in  Arab 
society.  In  both  cases,  for  example,  the  guest  is  recom- 
mended to  leave  something  on  his  plate  as  evidence  that 
he  has  had  enough  and  more  than  enough.22 

When  the  number  of  wayfarers  who  required  shelter 
in  a  town  was  such  as  to  overtax  the  resources  of  private 
hospitality,  the  deficiency  was  supplied  by  organized  char- 
ity. It  was  the  practice  of  Jewish  communities  to  make 
grants  to  impecunious  strangers  in  cash  or  in  kind  and 
besides  this  they  usually  provided  a  guest  house  or  Jews' 
Inn  for  the  reception  of  friendless  travelers.  Lodging 
places  of  wayfaring  men  existed  so  early  that  legend 
attributed  their  institution  to  Abraham.23  Gratuitous 
public  inns  are  mentioned  in  the  Talmud,  but  they  be- 
came more  numerous  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  a  guest 
house  was  commonly  provided  at  the  cost  of  the  com- 
munity in  order  to  provide  for  travelers  for  whom  pri- 


J8Cf.  Ecclesiasticus  29:23-28,  Pesachim  49a. 
I'Derech  Eretz  zuta  ch.  8,  Baba  Bathra  98b. 
20Derech  Eretz  Rabbah  Ch.  6. 
2iBerachoth  46a,  58a. 

22Derech  Eretz  Rabbah  Ch.  6.     Cf.  Hastings;  Dictionary  of 
the  Bible,  s.  v.  Hospitality. 
23Sotah  lOa. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES         95 

vate  entertainment  was  lacking.  In  other  cases  the  com- 
munity paid  ordinary  Jewish  inn-keepers  for  the  board 
and  lodging  of  such  travelers.24 

Hospitality  extended  to  students  of  the  Law  was  re- 
garded as  especially  meritorious.  Hence  centres  of  Jew- 
ish learning  were  also  notable  centres  of  hospitality.  The 
wandering  student  was  met  with  everywhere,  for  it  was 
an  accepted  principle  that  those  who  learned  the  Law 
from  one  master  could  never  attain  to  eminence.23  At 
a  time  when  books  were  few,  it  was  necessary  to  seek 
for  guidance  from  many  living  voices.  As  Christian 
students  were  attracted  from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  the 
mediaeval  universities,  so  did  budding  Jewish  scholars 
flock  to  the  celebrated  academies  of  Rabbinical  learn- 
ing. Some  of  them  suffered  great  privations,  as  did 
Rashi,  who  left  his  newly  married  wife  and  betook  him- 
self to  the  sages  of  Lorraine,  under  whom  he  studied 
"with  lack  of  bread  and  raiment  and  with  a  millstone 
round  his  neck."  Sometimes,  however,  external  condi- 
tions of  Jewish  life  were  more  favorable  and  students 
received  generous  maintenance,  until  their  studies  were 
completed.  At  Lunel  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  students 
that  came  from  distant  towns  to  learn  the  Law  were 
taught,  boarded,  lodged  and  clothed  by  the  congregation. 
In  a  neighboring  town  R.  Abraham  b  David  founded  an 
Academy  for  the  use  of  all  comers  and,  being  a  rich  man, 
he  paid  the  expenses  of  those  who  were  without  means.26 

24Israel  Abrahams,  Jewish  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  74,  314. 
25Abodah  Zarah  19a. 

26See  Itinerary  of  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  edited  by  Marcus 
Adler,  pp.  3-4. 


96      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

In  the  fifteenth  century  "bahurim"  (young  students  of 
the  Talmud)  were  generally  lodged  in  a  hostel  provided 
for  their  reception,  the  cost  being  defrayed  by  voluntary 
contributions.  A  little  later,  the  centre  of  Jewish  learn- 
ing shifted  from  Germany  to  Poland.  Before  the  time 
of  the  Cossacks'  invasions,  the  Rabbinical  academies 
(Yeshiboth)  of  Poland  were  fairly  prosperous.  "Nearly 
all  communities  in  Poland  supported  a  Yeshibah.  They 
maintained  the  students  and  gave  them  out  of  the  public 
funds  fixed  sums  weekly  for  ordinary  expenses.  *  *  * 
A  community  consisting  of  fifty  householders  supported 
about  thirty  students.  In  addition  to  receiving  fixed  sti- 
pends the  students  were  invited  as  guests  to  the  table 
of  the  community,  every  household  having  invariably 
one  or  more  such  guests  from  the  Yeshibah."27  In  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  evil  days  set  in  for 
the  Jews  of  Poland  and  their  houses  of  study,  which 
never  fully  regained  their  former  prestige.28  Yet  they 
have  continued  to  attract  numerous  students  who  have, 
with  admirable  enthusiasm  for  knowledge,  scorned  de- 
lights and  lived  laborious  days.  Admirable  also  has  been, 
and  still  is,  the  generosity  shown  to  the  Yeshiboth  and 
their  students  bv  the  lovers  of  Jewish  learning,  them- 
selves in  many  cases  poor  men  and  women. 

Another  form  of  personal  service,  upon  which  the  Rab- 
bis  laid  great  stress,   is   the  visitation  of   the   sick   in 


2' 'Yemen  Mezulah,  by  Nathan  Hanover,  as  rendered  in  Jew- 
ish Ency.  s.  v.  Yeshibah. 

28The  Yeshibah  of  Volozhin  founded  in  1803  was  pre-emi- 
nent among  the  Yeshiboth  of  its  time,  but  it  was  after  all  a 
splendid  survival. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES         97 

their  homes.  The  sight  of  a  friend's  face,  say  the 
Rabbis,  removes  one-sixtieth  part  of  a  disease.  R. 
Akiba  once  went  to  see  one  of  his  pupils  who  was  lying 
sick  and  unvisited.  "O  my  teacher,"  said  the  sick  man, 
"thou  hast  saved  my  life."29  Those  who  visited  the  suf- 
ferer, beside  cheering  him,  joined  with  him  in  a  prayer 
for  his  recovery.  If  the  call  was  paid  on  a  Sabbath  day 
they  would  say,  "On  this  day  we  may  not  utter  words 
of  prayer  that  cause  grief.  Yet  healing  will  quickly 
come,  for  God's  mercy  is  great.  Enjoy  therefore  the 
Sabbath  rest  in  peace."30 

Sick  travellers  were  accommodated  in  the  general  hos- 
tels for  strangers,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been 
made.  When  the  Christian  matron  Fabiola  in  the  fourth 
century  founded  at  Rome,  as  an  act  of  penance,  the  first 
public  hospital,  she  adapted  a  Jewish  institution  to  more 
general  use.  Special  houses  for  the  sick  were  found 
occasionally  during  the  Middle  Ages  in  Jewish  commun- 
ities.31 The  first  of  such  hospitals  of  which  record  re- 
mains was  established  at  Cologne  in  the  eleventh  century. 
As  we  approach  modern  times,  we  begin  to  hear  of 
such  institutions  as  the  Beth  Holim  of  London  (founded 
in  1747),  which  was  at  once  a  home  for  the  aged  and 
a  hospital  for  the  sick.  The  material  needs  of  those  who 
lay  sick  within  their  own  homes  likewise  received  atten- 
tion. Many  Jewish  doctors  gave  gratuitous  treatment 
to  such  as  could  not  afford  to  pay  their  usual  fees. 


29Nedarim  39b  and  40a. 
30Shabbath  12b. 

31  Jewish  Ency.    (Ill  670)    s.  v.  Charity;  see  articles  also  on 
Hospital,  Hekdesh. 


98      LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Societies  for  supplying  the  poor  in  their  sickness  with 
medicine  and  warm  clothing  existed  in  many  centres 
of  Jewish  life. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  apocryphal  book  of  Tobit, 
we  read  of  a  pious  deed,  performed  by  the  hero  of  the 
story.  On  a  certain  occasion  at  the  feast  of  Pentecost, 
he  sent  his  son  to  invite  a  poor  man  who  should  share 
in  his  family  celebration.  The  son  returned  saying  that 
"one  of  our  nation  was  strangled  and  cast  out  in  the 
market-place."  Tobit  immediately  left  his  meat  and 
buried  the  corpse.  The  passage  is  very  characteristic 
of  Jewish  thought,  for  the  Rabbis  considered  it  to  be 
a  religious  duty  of  the  highest  importance  to  bury  a 
dead  body  which  was  found  untended.  Even  the  High 
Priest  who  might  not  defile  himself  by  touching  the 
corpse  of  his  nearest  relative  must  perform  this  act 
of  piety.  One  story  given  of  R.  Akiba's  initiation  as 
a  student  of  the  Law  represents  him  as  carrying  to  the 
nearest  burial  place  a  corpse,  which  he  found  by  the 
roadside.  He  then  reported  the  matter  to  the  Rabbis, 
who  told  him  that  he  had  acted  sinfully,  because  a 
dead  body,  that  lies  outside  the  borders  of  a  city,  must 
be  buried  at  the  spot  where  it  is  found.  Then  said 
R.  Akiba,  'if  I  incurred  guilt  when  I  thought  to  act 
meritoriously,  how  much  more  must  I  do  so  when  I 
have  no  virtuous  intention.'32  From  that  time  he  never 
ceased,  we  are  told,  to  attend  upon  the  sages,  for  he 
understood  that  piety  was  impossible  without  knowl- 
edge. Thus  Rabbinical  Judaism  taught  its  followers  to 
carry  out  their  duty  to  the  living  and  the  dead  with  a 


32T.  J.  Nazir  VI  :1. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES         99 

combination  of  inward  reverence  and  outward  punc- 
tiliousness. It  was  finely  taught  that  the  burial  of  the 
dead  is  an  act  of  true  charity,  because  those  upon  whom 
it  is  bestowed  can  give  no  recompense.33  It  was  also 
a  good  feature  about  Jewish  funerals  of  the  old  tradi- 
tional type  that  they  were  unostentatious.  This  fact 
was  already  noted  by  Josephus.  "Our  law,"  he  writes, 
"has  also  taken  care  of  the  decent  burial  of  the  dead, 
but  without  any  extravagant  expenses  for  their  funerals 
and  without  the  erection  of  any  illustrious  monuments 
for  them."34  The  rich  and  poor  after  their  death  should 
be  treated  alike  and  various  funeral  customs  mentioned 
in  the  Talmud  were  based  on  this  principle.  Thus  all 
dead  bodies  were  buried  in  simple  linen  garments,  and 
the  same  kind  of  bier  was  used  for  both  rich  and  poor.35 
Nor  were  elaborate  sepulchres  encouraged  by  the  Rabbis. 
'The  righteous  need  no  monuments,"  said  R.  Simeon  b 
Gamaliel,  (second  century)  "their  words  will  keep  their 
memory  green.36  Fulsome  epitaphs  did  not  come  into 
fashion  until  the  later  middle  ages;  monuments  that 
commemorate  the  ostentation  of  those  who  erected  them 
have  existed  here  and  there  at  various  periods,  but  it 
was  only  in  modern  times  that  they  became  a  glaring  of- 
fense against  good  taste.  In  such  external  matters,  at 
least,  we  do  not  show  so  much  regard  for  the  feelings  of 
the  poor,  as  did  our  fathers. 

In   Jewish   communities   of   the  old   school,   societies 


33Rashi  on  Gen.  47 :29,  based  on  Midrash  Tanchuma. 
34 Josephus,  Against  Apion  II  :27. 
35Moed   Katan  27b. 
36T.    J.    Shekalim    11:7. 


100    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

were  and  still  are  organized  to  tend  the  dying  and  bury 
the  dead.  From  the  seventeenth  century  if  not  earlier, 
they  were  known  as  "holy  leagues."  The  members  re- 
cited psalms  and  other  prayers  at  the  bedside  of  the  dy- 
ing; they  watched  the  corpse, which  must  not  be  left  un- 
attended before  its  interment ;  they  washed  the  dead  body, 
clothed  it  in  a  shroud  and  deposited  it  in  the  coffin ;  they 
attended  the  funeral  and  comforted  the  mourners.  In 
some  cities  the  "holy  league"  supplied  the  bereaved  fam- 
ily with  food  and  money  during  the  seven  days  of 
mourning.37 

Those  who  adopt  orphan  children  and  bring  them  up 
until  their  marriage  are  highly  commended  in  the  Talmud, 
because  they  are  doing  charity  at  all  times,  that  is,  they 
perform  a  continuous  act  of  benevolence.38  During  the 
Middle  Ages,  it  seems  always  to  have  been  possible  to 
find  foster-parents  for  destitute  orphan  children.  Or- 
phanages were  not  founded  until  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  provision  of  dowries  for  poor 
girls,  especially  those  who  were  orphans,  was  a  favorite 
form  of  charity;  at  Rome  (and  doubtless  elsewhere) 
curious  customs  existed  in  connection  with  it.  Thus 
jewelry  was  sometimes  lent  to  those  brides  who  had 
none.  The  recipients  of  dowries  were  often  selected  by 
lot.  This  endowment  of  poor  maidens  was  not  usually  a 


3?See  Hachmath  Ha-adam  163  (5).  The  provision  of  meals 
during  the  week  of  mourning  sometimes  led  to  abuse.  When 
given  by  the  rich  to  the  rich,  they  were  liable  to  become  feasts 
of  gluttony.  It  would  be  much  better,  said  an  ethical  teacher 
of  the  17th  century,  to  give  money  for  the  upkeep  of  houses  of 
study.  Meil  tsedakah  1467. 

3«Ketuboth  SOa  in  allusion  to  Ps.  106:3. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES        101 

charge  upon  communal  funds,  but  was  undertaken  by 
societies,  organized  for  the  purpose.  The  institution  of 
such  societies  began  at  latest  in  the  thirteenth  century 
and  they  afterwards  became  an  important  feature  in  Jew- 
ish life.  "There  are  in  great  cities,"  wrote  Leon  of  Mo- 
dena  ( 17th  century)  "fraternities  or  companies  for  works 
of  charity"  amongst  which  the  writer  includes  the  care 
of  the  sick,  the  burial  of  the  dead,  almsgiving,  redeeming 
of  slaves,  marrying  maids.  A  number  of  other  services 
were  fulfilled  by  similar  bodies.  We  read,  for  example, 
of  societies  for  clothing  the  poor,  for  giving  festival  re- 
lief and  for  lending  books.39  The  collection  of  money 
for  distribution  in  the  Holy  Land  was  also  super- 
vised by  special  committees  in  nearly  all  the  principal 
towns.40 

Special  charitable  societies  came  into  existance  to  sup- 
plement the  relief  which  had  been  dispensed  since  the 
time  of  the  Mishnah  by  the  Jewish  community  itself, 
through  its  authorized  executive  officers.  These  over- 
seers of  the  poor  obtained  a  part  of  their  funds  from 
compulsory  levies  upon  the  well-to-do,  a  distraint  being 
levied  upon  the  property  of  defaulters.41  The  fines  im- 
posed upon  offenders  against  congregational  regulations 
were  also  added  to  the  Charity  fund;  while  damages, 


39This  was  considered  a  very  good  form  of  charity.  When  a 
man  devoted  a  tithe  of  his  income  to  charity  he  might  purchase 
with  a  part  of  the  money  Hebrew  books  to  be  lent  to  students. 
If  so  he  should  write  on  the  fly-leaf  that  they  are  bought  from 
the  tithe,  so  that  his  heirs  may  know  how  to  use  them  (Ture 
Zahab  on  Yoreh  Deah,  s.  249). 

4<>See  Jewish  Ency.  s.  v.  Halukkah. 

"Yoreh  Deah,  s.  248. 


102    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

awarded  to  a  complainant  for, the  injuries  which  he  had 
sustained,  were  often  devoted  to  the  same  good  purpose.42 
Similarly  we  read  of  payments  to  the  charity  fund  that 
were  exacted  by  a  society  of  pietists  from  any  of  their 
members  who  interrupted  the  studies  of  others  by  idle 
talk  or  who  came  late  to  Synagogue  without  a  reasonable 
excuse.43  But  the  larger  part  of  the  resources  com- 
manded by  the  overseers  of  the  poor  were  derived  from 
voluntary  contributions.  All,  except  the  poor,  were  ex- 
pected to  give  a  tithe  of  their  income  in  charity.44  The 
poor  and  the  orphan  were  recommended  as  an  act  of 
grace,  to  give  whatever  they  could  afford.  When  new 
clothes  were  given  to  a  poor  man  he  was  not  forced  to 
hand  over  his  old  ones  to  the  collectors  of  charity,  but 
it  was  held  that  he  might  well  do  so.45  Collectors  of 
Charity  accepted  small  sums  only  from  slaves,  children 
and  women,  lest  any  of  these  dependent  persons  should 
be  tempted  to  give  money  to  which  they  themselves  had 
no  right.  The  collectors  were  also  warned  that  they  must 
not  take  advantage  of  those  who  were  known  to  be  ex- 
ceptionally generous.46 

It  was  customary  to  make  offerings  to  charity  during 
public  worship  and  large  sums  were  obtained  by  this 
means.  On  week-days,  the  money  given  was  put  into  the 
poor  box.  To  make  such  contributions  on  fast  days  was 
especially  commendable:  "the  reward  of  fasting  is  char- 


<2Qp.  cit.  258  (9). 
«Sefer  Hasidim  965. 
«4Matnoth  Aniyim  VII  :5. 
45Yoreh  Deah  253  (8). 
46Qp.  cit.  248  (7). 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES        103 

ity,"  by  means  of  which  the  poor  man,  who  is  faint  be- 
cause of  his  pious  abstinence,  is  provided  with  food  at 
night-fall.47  On  Sabbaths  and  festivals  no  Jew  might 
carry  money  with  him,  but  his  donations  to  charity  were 
publicly  announced  in  the  Synagogue.  Those  who  were 
called  up  to  the  reading  of  the  Law  paid  for  the  privi- 
lege by  their  generosity  to  the  poor.  Various  members 
of  the  synagogue  bought  by  auction  the  right  to  perform 
certain  ceremonies,  such  as  that  of  wrapping  the  scroll 
of  the  Law  in  its  vestments  after  the  lesson  had  been  read 
from  it.  Gifts  to  charity  were  announced  when  there  was 
a  wedding  in  the  family  of  a  congregant,  or  when  a  child 
was  born  to  him.  Memorial  offerings  for  the  dead  were 
made  on  the  anniversaries  of  their  decease,  as  well  as  on 
the  High  Festivals.48  Legacies  to  the  overseers  of  the 
poor  for  the  maintenance  of  their  work  were  also  com 
mon;  in  some  places  it  was  customary  for  rich  persons 
to  make  large  bequests  of  this  nature.  A  typical  case  is 
recorded  where  the  trustees  of  an  orphan  were  directed 
by  his  late  father  to  give  alms  every  year  to  the  poor  from 
his  estate  on  the  feast  of  Hanuccah.49 

The  overseers  of  the  poor  in  the  time  of  the  Mishnah, 
organized  two  forms  of  public  charity,  one  for  casual  re- 
lief, the  other  for  regular  relief.  The  former  of  these 
consisted  of  relief  in  kind,  which  was  distributed  alike  to 
the  resident  poor  and  to  strangers,  who  were  provided 


<7Beracloth    6b,    Yoreh    Deah   256    (2). 

48The  main  authority  for  the  statements  in  this  paragraph 
is  Or  Zarua  1 :26.  See  also  Orach  Hayim  147,  Si f the  Kohen 
on  Yoreh  Deah  256. 

49See  Moses  Isserlein  on  Yoreh  Deah  258  (5)  also  Ture  Zahab 
on  passage. 


104    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

with  bed  and  with  two  meals,  one  to  eat  on  the  spot,  and 
the  other  to  take  away  with  them.  Those  who  remained 
in  the  town  over  Sabbath,  received  three  meals  for  the 
day.  This  kind  of  assistance,  as  dispensed  by  the  over- 
seers of  the  poor,  was  already  falling  into  disuse  in  the 
time  of  Maimonides,  for  it  was  superseded  by  private 
charity,  by  the  provision  of  communal  hostelries,  and  by 
the  benevolent  activity  of  the  special  societies  already 
referred  to.50  Weekly  distributions  from  the  Kuppah  or 
charity  fund  to  the  resident  poor  continued,  however,  to 
be  a  permanent  feature  of  Jewish  life  throughout  the 
Middle  Ages.  The  Talmud  did  not  permit  a  scholar  to 
reside  in  a  city,  where  systematic  assistance  to  the  poor 
was  not  given,51  and  Maimonides  declared  that  so  far  as 
he  knew,  this  duty  was  not  neglected  by  any  Jewish  com- 
munity. This  organized  charity  relieved  the  indigent  Jew 
from  the  necessity  of  soliciting  alms  in  person.  In  the 
seventeenth  century,  however,  the  position  changed  for 
the  worse.  Poverty  then  increased  and  the  poor  box  was 
not  so  well  lined.  Besides,  the  Jews  lived  together  in 
their  ghettos  like  the  members  of  one  large  family  and 
they  could  beg  from  one  another  without  being  exposed 
to  the  unfavorable  notice  of  the  outside  public.  Hence 
we  find  that  the  poor  became  accustomed  to  beg  assistance 
from  private  persons  as  well  as  from  the  communal  of- 
ficials. Leon  of  Modena  describes  the  practice  of  his 
own  day  in  the  following  passage  (the  quaintness  of 
which  may  be  partly  due  to  his  English  translator)  :  "In 
great  towns,  on  Fridays  and  the  eves  of  other  great  festi- 


soSee  Abrahams,  Jewish  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  311. 
SiSanhedrin   17b. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES        105 

val,  the  poor  go  about  to  rich  men's  houses  and  others 
of  the  middle  sort  to  gather  their  alms,  and  they  give  to 
everyone  something  according  to  their  ability.  Besides 
the  Parnasim  or  Memunnim,52  whose  office  is  to  look 
after  such  things,  take  care  to  send  them  something  home 
to  their  houses  every  week,  especially  to  such  as  have 
lived  in  good  credit,  or  are  modest  and  ashamed  to  beg, 
or  sick  persons,  or  widows  who  do  not  go  abroad."  In 
special  cases,  collections  for  individuals  were  taken  in 
the  synagogue. 

The  problem  also,  presented  by  the  itinerant  beggar, 
became  more  insistent  towards  the  end  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  cause  is  not  far  to  seek.  Restrictions  on 
trade  and  on  the  practice  of  handicrafts,  expulsions  from 
city  after  city  and  from  whole  countries,  confiscations  of 
goods,  cruel  massacres — all  the  forms  of  persecution,  to 
which  the  Jews  were  subject,  had  done  their  work  only 
too  effectively.  The  bulk  of  the  Jewish  population,  es- 
pecially in  central  Europe,  became  terribly  poor,  not  only 
in  resources  but  also  in  industrial  capabilities.  The  evil 
reached  its  height  after  the  Cossacks  invaded  Poland. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  Polish  Jews  were  reduced  to 
indigence  by  the  war  and  there  were  among  them  many 
students  of  the  Talmud,  who,  unable  to  make  a  living  by 
secular  pursuits,  emigrated  year  after  year  to  the  South 
and  West  of  Europe  in  order  to  turn  their  knowledge  to 
account.  Some  of  them  were  distinguished  Talmudists 
and  had  the  good  fortune  to  obtain  favor  from  congre- 
gations of  more  or  less  importance,  who  required  Rabbis. 


S2i.  e.,  the  Wardens  or  members  of  the  Executive. 


106    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

But  many  worthy  men  and  others  not  so  worthy,  who 
could  not  find  such  openings,  had  to  be  satisfied  with 
less  eligible  employments,  such  as  that  of  teaching  He- 
brew to  children  for  a  mere  pittance.  Others  again  led 
a  wandering  life,  earning  their  bread  either  by  hawking 
or  by  various  expedients  reputable  or  disreputable.  They 
became  itinerant  preachers  or  cantors ;  they  acted  as  mar- 
riage-brokers, bringing  news  of  well-dowered  maidens  in 
distant  towns;  they  attended  weddings  as  professional 
jesters;  they  cast  out  spirits  and  \\rote  amulets.  Some 
became  mjere  beggars  (Schnorrers)  ;  who  went  from  place 
to  place  with  plausible  stories,  on  the  strength  of  which 
they  asked  for  help.  They  would  represent  themselves 
as  fugitives  from  persecution ;  as  victims  of  a  conflagra- 
tion or  of  a  miscarrage  of  justice,  as  rich  men  who  had 
lost  their  fortune,  or  as  scholars  who  had  lost  their  mem- 
ory through  a  visitation  of  Heaven.  How  were  the  stories 
to  be  tested?  This  question  had  been  already  considered 
by  the  Jewish  authorities  of  former  times.  Thus  the  Jew- 
ish Council  of  Lithuania  in  1623,  when  dealing  with  the 
situation  that  arose  through  the  arrival  of  refugees  from 
Germany  during  the  thirty  years'  war,  decided  that  beg- 
gars should  receive  no  assistance  except  to  leave  the 
country,  unless  they  brought  a  recommendation  from  the 
Rabbi  of  their  native  place.53  This  rule  afterwards  pre- 
vailed generally  and  it  was  applied  to  the  refugees  from 
Poland.  To  quote  again  the  words  of  Leon  of  Modena: 
"If  a  poor  man  has  any  pressing  necessity,  which  exceeds 
the  abilities  of  the  town  where  he  lives,  he  makes  ap- 


53See  Hebrew  Graetz,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  107  n. 


JEWISH  CHARITY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES        107 

plication  to  the  principal  Rabbis,  who  set  their  hands  to 
a  certificate  that  he  is  an  honest  man  and  one  that  de- 
serves their  charity  and  desires  that  every  one  would  give 
him  assistance.  Into  whatsoever  place  he  comes  with 
this  paper,  where  there  are  any  Jews,  be  it  hamlet,  cas- 
tle or  any  little  place,  he  is  entertained  a  day  or  two  with 
meat,  drink  and  lodging  and  some  money  given  him  at 
parting.  When  he  comes  into  any  larger  city,  he  gets  his 
certificate  confirmed  by  the  subscriptions  of  the  Rabbis 
that  dwell  there ;  and  he  goes  to  the  synagogues  *  *  * 
and  he  receives  assistance."  But  written  testimonials 
constituted,  after  all,  a  very  imperfect  safeguard  against 
deception.  They  might  have  been  given  by  a  Rabbi,  who 
wished  to  escape  the  importunity  of  an  applicant,  of 
whom  he  really  knew  nothing  or  next  to  nothing.  It  was 
notorious  that  the  literary  schnorrer,  whose  stock-in- 
trade  was  one  of  his  own  worthless  compositions,  could 
nearly  always  produce  some  testimonals  from  well-known 
Rabbis,  in  which  he  was  commended  as  a  paragon  of 
learning.  And  worse  still,  the  benevolent  had  to  reckon 
with  impostors,  who  made  use  of  spurious  testimonials. 
This  abuse  was  stated  by  R.  Moses  Hagiz  (1671-1750)  to 
have  become  very  common.  After  praising  "our  brethren 
from  Poland,"  who  had  spread  the  knowledge  of  the 
Torah  far  and  wide,  he  lamented  that  in  his  own  gene- 
ration so  many  of  them,  who  appealed  for  help  to  the 
Jews  of  other  lands,  came  with  lying  tales  and  forged 
letters.54  Let  us  not  forget,  however,  that  the  delinquents 
were  after  all  more  sinned  against  than  sinning.  They 


54Mishnath  Hachamim  15a. 


108    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

lived  at  a  time  when  Jewish  impoverishment  had  reached 
its  climax.  They  often  sailed  under  false  colors,  but 
their  sufferings  were  real  enough.  Nor  is  it  entirely  ir- 
relevant to  note  that  the  moral  decline  of  the  period  was 
checked  during  the  eighteenth  century,  by  the  religious 
movements,  brought  about  both  by  the  Hasidim  and  by 
their  distinguished  opponent  the  Wilna  Gaon. 

The  stream  of  emigration  from  Russia  and  Poland, 
when  once  begun,  never  afterwards  ceased;  indeed,  its 
pace  has  been  greatly  accelerated  in  modern  times.  Many 
of  the  emigrants  have  possessed  great  power  of  adapt- 
ibility  to  circumstances  and  have  become  successful  busi- 
ness men.  Others  have  applied  the  sharpness  of  intellect, 
which  they  derived  originally  from  their  Talmudic  studies, 
to  secular  learning  with  brilliant  results.  But  there  has 
always  remained  a  residuum  of  failures,  for  whom  char- 
ity is  called  upon  to  make  provision.  Jewish  charitable 
societies  in  mjany  lands  have  made  gallant  efforts  to  re- 
lieve, cure  and  prevent  destitution.  But  much  remains 
to  be  done. 

One  thought  must  always  suggest  itself  to  us,  when 
we  study,  however  superficially,  any  important  aspect  of 
our  past  history.  The  marvel  of  Jewish  life  in  the  Middle 
Ages  is  that,  while  there  were  so  many  circumstances 
that  tended  to  degrade  our  fathers,  they  were  in  fact  so 
little  degraded.  The  influence  of  Judaism  on  heart  and 
head  carried  them  through  their  difficulties  to  a  triumph- 
ant issue. 


V 
JEWISH  SOCIAL  SERVICE  OF  TODAY 

The  social  service  of  our  day  is,  of  course,  a  theme 
not  for  a  lecture  but  for  an  encyclopedia.  Turn  over 
the  pages  of  the  Charities'  Register,  issued  in  a  great 
city,  and  you  will  be  struck  not  only  by  the  number  of 
societies  enumerated  and  by  the  large  amount  of  their 
combined  expenditure  but  also  by  the  variety  of  func- 
tions which  they  discharge.  This  is  an  age  of  special- 
ization in  charitable  effort  as  in  everything  else. 
Every  possible  variety  of  good  work  is  attempted  with 
more  or  less  success  either  by  a  society  founded  for 
that  single  purpose  or  by  the  appropriate  department 
of  a  more  comprehensive  organization.  The  ramifi- 
cations of  medical  charities,  educational  charities  and 
charities  for  general  relief  are  highly  complicated;  to 
understand  the  working  of  all  this  machinery  of  social 
uplift  requires  special  study  and  critically  to  examine 
it  would  entail  a  very  difficult  investigation.  But  there 
are  some  aspects  of  Jewish  social  service  to  which  I 
should  like  to  invite  attention.  Certain  outstanding 
problems  confront  us  now;  it  is  my  aim  to  indicate 
what  they  are  rather  than  to  suggest  final  solutions. 

The  title  of  my  paper  suggests  at  once  a  general 
question  of  importance.  How  far  should  Jewish  social 
service  be  conducted  on  denominational  lines?  It  may 

109 


110    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

indeed  be  assumed  without  demur  that  Jews  owe  a 
special  duty  to  their  co-religionists.  Such  a  propo- 
sition would  be  affirmed  with  virtual  unanimity  in  any 
assembly  either  of  Jews  or  of  non-Jews.  A  charitable 
agency,  therefore,  which  carries  on  work  in  a  Jewish 
district,  should  attract  generous  Jewish  support,  both 
in  the  form  of  subscriptions  and  in  that  of  personal 
service.  But  it  has  yet  to  be  determined  how  far  so- 
cial service  should  be  rendered  to  Jews  by  organiza- 
tions distinct  from  those  that  benefit  non-Jews.  Is 
the  Jewish  child  to  receive  education  or  vocational 
training  in  a  denominational  school?  Is  the  sick  Jew 
to  be  treated  in  a  Jewish  hospital  ?  Should  the  activity 
of  settlements  be  organized  upon  a  denominational 
basis?1  These  and  similar  questions  arise  from  time 
to  time  in  various  parts  of  the  Jewish  world  and  are 
apt  to  be  hotly  debated.  In  order  to  decide  them 
aright,  account  must  be  taken  of  local  circumstances, 
but  we  should  also  be  guided  by  broad  principles  of 
general  application. 

If  we  are  persons  of  wide  sympathy,  our  bias  will 
undoubtedly  be  towards  the  undenominational  idea,  so 


question  may  perhaps  be  answered  in  a  foot-note.  Some 
of  the  best  known  university  settlements  are  situated  in  Jew- 
ish districts  and  our  co-religionists  make  large  use  of  the 
recreative  and  educational  facilities  they  offer.  There  is  hearty 
co-operation  between  Jews  and  non-Jews  in  the  conduct  of  the 
work.  The  activity  of  settlements  is  pursued  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  friendliness,  which  helps  to  dissipate  prejudices  of 
class  and  sect.  Denominational  settlements  can  hardly  pro- 
mote the  same  breadth  of  view,  but  they  justify  their  existence 
as  separate  entities,  if  they  put  their  religious  work  in  the 
forefront.  No  attempt  to  run  a  Jewish  settlement  on  merely 
racial  lines  deserves  support;  it  must  be  enthusiastically  re- 
ligious or  it  is  nothing. 


JEWISH  SOCIAL  SERVICE  OF  TODAY        111 

far  as  it  can  be  effectively  applied.  In  order  that  a 
society,  organized  by  Jews  for  Jews,  may  justify  its 
existence,  it  must  do  work  which  could  not  be 
thoroughly  accomplished  by  an  undenominational 
body.  Societies  in  which  the  teaching  of  Judaism 
plays  an  essential  part,  not  to  speak  of  such  as  are 
dedicated  entirely  to  this  purpose,  satisfy  this  condi- 
tion. Frankly  denominational  as  they  are,  they  con- 
stitute Judaism's  first  line  of  defense  and  have  the  high- 
est claim  upon  all  who  love  their  faith.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  instruction  of  Jewish  children  in  secular  sub- 
jects is  best  conducted  in  undenominational  schools. 
This  view  prevails  generally  in  countries  of  enlight- 
enment ;  the  complete  segregation  of  Jewish  children  in 
separate  schools  would  hardly  find  support  in  modern 
times,  except  from  Anti-Semites.  The  existence  of 
Jewish  elementary  schools  in  England  is  explained  by 
the  fact  that  the  English  system  of  public  education 
before  1870  rested  upon  a  denominational  basis,  which 
has  been  largely  maintained  by  subsequent  legislation. 
The  existing  Jewish  schools  justify  themselves  by 
their  efficiency,  but  no  new  ones  have  been  added  for 
many  years.  The  majority  of  Jewish  children  in  Eng- 
land now  attend  schools,  "provided"  by  the  County 
and  City  Councils;  such  instruction  in  Hebrew  and 
religion  as  they  receive  is  given  after  school  hours. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  the  "non-provided"  schools 
which  still  exist,  will  ultimately  be  absorbed  in  the 
general  system,  for  their  distinctive  character  is  as- 
sailed by  the  more  progressive  elements  in  English 
public  life. 


112    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

In  ordinary  circumstances,  children  are  best  cared 
for  in  their  homes;  the  most  valuable  elements  in  a 
child's  religious  education  are  supplied  by  its  parents, 
although  religious  instruction  (a  very  different  thing) 
may  be  delegated  to  others.  But  this  principle  some- 
times breaks  down.  It  breaks  down  in  the  case  of 
many  children,  whose  fathers  are  chronic  invalids  or 
whose  mothers  have  been  left  as  destitute  widows. 
What  is  to  be  done  for  these  poor  little  ones?  One 
way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  to  give  the  head  of  the  fam- 
ily a  maintenance  grant,  that  will  adequately  cover  the 
needs  of  all  its  members.  If  sufficient  funds  are  ob- 
tainable, this  is  the  best  way  to  deal  with  the  case  of 
parents,  whose  energy  and  common  sense  will  enable 
them  to  bring  up  their  children  really  well.  But  des- 
titution sometimes  so  discourages  men  and  women 
that  they  are  incapacitated  from  the  efficient  perform- 
ance of  parental  duties.  In  such  cases,  the  interest  of 
the  child  is  the  primary  consideration ;  he  should  be 
transferred  to  the  charge  of  a  public  body  or  charitable 
society,  which  assumes,  for  a  time  at  least,  all  parental 
responsibilities,  including  the  duty  of  providing 
moral  and  religious  education.  When  this  transfer- 
ence has  to  be  made,  Jewish  children  should,  of  course, 
be  entrusted  to  Jewish  care.  The  duty  of  providing 
orphan  asylums  has  accordingly  been  recognized  by 
Jewish  communities  in  many  lands.  The  spirit  in 
which  these  institutions  are  conducted,  is  in  accord 
with  the  ideal,  formulated  by  Baruch  Auerbach,  the 
founder  of  the  Jewish  Orphan  Asylum  at  Berlin. 
"Orphans,"  he  said,  "are  not  merely  poor  children, 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF  TODAY        113 

but  children  without  parents ;  to  raise  and  bring  them 
up,  an  orphan  asylum  should  give  these  children  not 
merely  bread  and  a  shelter  but  parental  love  also,  and 
practical  training"2  Neither  of  these  last  two  require- 
ments is  easy  to  fulfil;  but  without  them  an  Orphan 
School  is  worse  than  useless.  Technical  or  vocational 
work  forms  therefore  an  important  part  of  the  cur- 
riculum; the  success  in  after  life  of  most  lads  trained 
at  such  institutions  as  the  Jews'  Orphan  Asylum  of 
London,  speaks  well  for  the  efficiency  of  this  practical 
training.  To  provide  an  equivalent  of  the  love,  given 
by  natural  parents,  is  impossible,  but  everything 
should  be  done  to  make  orphan  children  breathe  the  at- 
mosphere of  affection  which  makes  a  home  happy.  A 
staff  of  earnest  and  devoted  teachers  can  do  much  to 
meet  this  want,  but  it  is  also  important  that  the  condi- 
tions of  their  work  should  be  as  favorable  as  possible.  The 
barrack-school  with  its  large  dormitories  and  dining- 
halls  is  now  condemned  both  on  theoretical  grounds 
and  as  the  result  of  practical  experience.  Small  or- 
phanages may  be  retained  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  the 
less  populous  cities,  but  the  larger  institutions  will  re- 
quire to  be  remodelled.  This  has  already  been  done 
with  remarkable  success  by  the  Hebrew  Sheltering 
Guardians  of  New  York.  Their  orphanage  has  been 
removed  from  the  city  to  a  quiet  rural  district,  where 
small  parties  of  children  are  housed  in  a  number  of 
separate  cottages  each  under  the  personal  care  of  a 
house-mother.  The  best  features  of  Jewish  home  life 


2Jewish  Ency.,  s.  v.  Auerbach,  Baruch. 


114    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

are  present  in  this  institution,  which  is  probably  des- 
tined to  serve  as  the  model  for  many  others. 

Another  difficult  problem,  with  which  Jewish  char- 
ity is  called  upon  to  deal,  is  that  presented  by  the  child, 
who  is  a  delinquent  or  the  offspring  of  vicious  parents. 
Once  there  were  very  few  such  children  in  Israel,  but 
their  number,  like  that  of  adult  criminals  and  prosti- 
tutes, has  greatly  increased  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years.3  They  are  mostly  committed  to  non-Jew- 
ish institutions,  being  visited  at  longer  or  shorter  in- 
tervals by  friendly  visitors,  lay  or  clerical,  from  whom 
they  receive  religious  instruction.  But  this  arrange- 
ment is  not  satisfactory.  If  we  would  save  children, 
whose  moral  development  has  been  marred  by  vicious 
or  incompetent  parents,  we  dare  not  neglect  the 
most  potent  influence  at  our  command, — the  influence 
of  religion.  We  go  far  towards  solving  the  problem  of 
the  delinquent  child,  if  we  arouse  the  dormant  poten- 
tialities of  his  moral  nature.  The  best  hope  for  him  is 
in  a  religious  school,  but  it  must  be  one  where  religion 
is  not  only  taught  but  also  lived.  This  implies  the 
need  of  a  teaching  staff  of  unusual  ability  and  religious 
zeal.  Teachers,  possessing  these  qualities  and  having 
at  the  same  time  a  desire  to  take  up  institutional  work, 
are  not  easy  to  obtain,  but  the  main  desideratum  is  to 


3Various  causes  have  brought  about  this  sad  state  of  things. 
Among  the  forces  of  demoralization,  we  may  probably  reckon 
the  growth  of  the  factory  system  in  Jewish  industries  and  the 
consequent  neglect  of  the  home,  the  peculiar  temptations  of 
modern  industrial  life,  and  not  least,  the  unsettlement  in  morals, 
due  to  wholesale  emigration  and  to  the  break-up  of  ortho- 
doxy. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL  SERVICE   OF  TODAY        115 

secure  the  right  person  as  superintendent.  If  this  re- 
sponsible post  be  well  filled,  the  training  of  a  good  of- 
ficial staff  is  only  a  matter  of  time.  Another  point  to 
be  kept  in  mind  with  regard  to  correctional  establish- 
ments is  the  need  of  proper  classification.  Truants 
and  boys  who  are  merely  troublesome  at  home  or  at 
school,  should  not  be  sent  to  institutions,  intended  for 
the  reception  of  more  hardened  offenders.  We  may 
spread  moral  disease  in  our  attempt  to  cure  it,  if  we 
neglect  this  simple  precaution. 

My  remarks  about  the  proper  treatment  of  the  delin- 
quent child  apply  equally  to  the  so-called  "fallen"  girl. 
Here  again  the  need  of  proper  classification  is  urgent 
and  here  again  the  best  results  will  be  obtained  in  de- 
nominational institutions,  if  they  are  rightly  con- 
ducted. The  Jewess,  who  succumbs  to  temptation, 
needs  Jewish  teaching  and  she  needs  also  Jewish  sym- 
pathy— the  sympathy  of  those  who  understand  her  pe- 
culiar difficulties  and  the  unwholesome  surroundings, 
to  which  her  delinquency  can  generally  be  traced.  Fur- 
ther, Jews  should  undertake  the  after-care  of  those 
who  leave  the  Rescue  Home  and  should  hold  them- 
selves responsible  for  preventive  work,  designed  to 
cleanse  the  community  from  the  disgrace  of  commer- 
cialized vice.  The  grave  evil  just  mentioned  so  far  as 
it  affects  the  Jewish  people,  is  largely  international  in 
its  operation,  many  of  the  victims  being  conveyed  to 
foreign  lands.  The  combined  force  of  Jewish  agencies 
in  different  parts  of  the  world  can  alone  save  them  from 
destruction.  Very  impressive  is  the  annual  report  of 
the  Jewish  Association  for  the  Protection  of  Girls  and 


116    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Women,  in  which  we  read  of  the  joint  efforts  put  forth 
by  this  British  Society  and  by  the  Hilfsverein  der 
Deutschen  Juden,  the  French  Committee,  the  American 
Council  of  Jewish  Women,  the  Jewish  Colonial  Associ- 
ation and  a  number  of  other  Jewish  organizations  in  dif- 
ferent countries.  The  brotherhood  and  sisterhood  of 
Israel  have  combined  in  a  strenuous  effort  to  wipe  out 
a  stain  which  besmirches  the  honor  of  our  race. 

We  conclude  therefore  that  every  well-ordered  Jew- 
ish community  should  provide  itself  with  orphanages, 
correctional  schools  and  rescue  homes,  which  are  spe- 
cifically Jewish,  in  order  that  they  may  be  made  cen- 
tres of  direct  religious  teaching  and  influence.  Homes 
for  friendless  Jewish  work-girls  also  form  an  indispens- 
able part  of  the  communal  equipment.  There  are  other 
institutions  in  which  the  management  should  be  Jew- 
ish, in  order  that  the  atmosphere  may  be  Jewish.  I 
have  especially  in  mind  Homes  for  the  Aged  and  the 
Incurable.  It  is  essential  for  the  happiness  of  the  in- 
mates that  they  should  spend  their  declining  years  in  a 
Jewish  environment,  to  which  most  of  them  have  been 
accustomed  all  their  life.  The  question  of  food  is  also 
important.  The  majority  of  working-class  Jews,  in- 
cluding persons  otherwise  unobservant,  adhere  to  the 
dietary  laws  as  a  praiseworthy  custom  if  not  as  a 
religious  obligation.  They  prefer  to  eat  kosher  meat, 
if  it  can  be  obtained  without  much  trouble.  This  pi- 
ous feeling  (this  prejudice,  if  you  prefer  to  call  it  so) 
increases  with  age  and  should  certainly  be  respected. 
Still  more  weight  must  be  given  to  the  convictions  of 
an  earnest  minority,  who  look  upon  the  Dietary  Laws 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE  OF  TODAY        117 

as  divine.4  The  attraction  of  Jewish  cookery,  which 
can  be  enjoyed  in  a  communal  institution,  must  also 
not  be  forgotten.  The  familiar  old-time  dishes  appeal 
not  only  to  the  palate  but  also  to  the  imagination. 

What  are  we  to  say  about  the  Jewish  hospitals, 
which  are  to  be  found  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  notably 
in  Germany  and  in  the  United  States?  Speaking  in  the 
abstract,  one  would  be  inclined  to  regret  their  exist- 
ence. The  fight  against  disease  is  a  matter  of  common 
concern  and  should  be  carried  on  with  the  closest  co- 
operation of  all  men.  A  practical  lesson  in  brotherly 
love  is  supplied  by  such  an  institution  as  the  London 
Hospital,  where  men  and  women  of  all  creeds  are  to 
be  found  amongst  the  governors,  the  subscribers,  the 
medical  staff,  the  nurses  and  the  patients.  Undoubt- 
edly also  the  highest  efficiency  is  obtainable  when  the 
location  of  hospitals  and  their  classification  are  deter- 
mined by  medical  requirements  only,  without  regard  to 
the  denominational  affiliations  of  the  patients.  This 
point  is  especially  clear  in  a  city  of  moderate  size, 
where  the  choice  lies  between  a  single  institution, 
large  enough  to  attract  a  staff  of  first-rate  ability,  and 
several  denominational  institutions  too  small  to  attain 
excellence.  Certain  general  arguments  are  used  in 


4We  should  treat  with  especial  tenderness  the  feelings  of  in- 
tellectual non-combatants,  whose  faith  might  possibly  be  shat- 
tered but  could  not  be  remodelled.  It  is  a  cause  for  regret 
that  in  America  kosher  meat  is  not  supplied  in  a  number  of 
Jewish  hospitals,  including  most  of  those  with  the  largest  re- 
sources at  their  command.  All  the  requirements  of  orthodoxy 
are,  however,  satisfied  at  the  Montefiore  Home  for  Chronic 
Invalids — a  New  York  Institution,  which  is  one  of  the  best 
equipped  of  Jewish  medical  charities. 


118    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

favor  of  Jewish  hospitals,  but  they  fail  to  carry  con- 
viction. The  desire  of  Jewish  patients  for  special  food 
and  religious  ministrations  can  be  met  within  the  walls 
of  an  undenominational  hospital.  Where  such  pa- 
tients are  numerous  they  can  be  collected  into  special 
wards.  Even  where  they  are  few,  it  should  be  possible 
to  arrange  for  the  establishment  of  a  kosher  kitchen 
and  for  the  regular  visitation  of  the  institution  by  a 
local  Rabbi.  Jewish  patients  of  foreign  speech  are 
subject  to  serious  disqualifications  in  some  non- Jew- 
ish hospitals,  but  good  feeling  and  a  little  good  sense 
can  easily  solve  the  difficulty.  In  a  country,  such  as 
England,  where  the  system  of  medical  charities  is  es- 
sentially undenominational,  there  is  no  justification 
for  the  existence  of  separate  Jewish  hospitals  and  the 
general  sense  of  the  community  will  probably  con- 
tinue hostile  to  their  establishment.5  In  the  United 
States,  different  conditions  prevail.  Most  of  the  vol- 
untary hospitals  are  under  denominational  manage- 
ment or,  at  least,  have  a  distinctly  denominational  at- 
mosphere. The  sick  and  injured  of  all  creeds  and 
nationalities  are  admissible,6  but  Jewish  patients  in 
non-Jewish  hospitals  are  apt  to  feel  that  they  are  out 
of  place.  Municipal  hospitals  to  which  many  Jews 
resort  by  force  of  necessity,  are  as  little  liked  as  the 


SThe  only  existing  Jewish  Hospital  in  England  is  at  Man- 
chester. A  site  for  a  Jewish  Hospital  has  been  purchased  in 
London ;  the  movement  for  establishing  it  is  popular  in  the 
East  End  and  has  a  few  influential  supporters.  The  Jewish 
Chronicle  is  in  favor  of  the  project. 

^Jewish  hospitals,  in  their  turn,  receive  patients  of  other 
creeds. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF  TODAY        119 

English  poor-law  infirmaries,  which  they  resemble  in 
many  ways.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  American 
Jews,  like  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  Presbyterians  and 
other  churches,  should  provide  for  the  needs  of  their 
own  sick.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  the  best  training  for 
a  Jewish  doctor  and  the  best  opportunities  for  his  pro- 
fessional advancement  are  furnished  by  Jewish  hos- 
pitals, which  serve,  therefore,  more  purposes  than  one 
and  are  becoming  more  and  more  numerous.  They 
include  establishments  of  every  degree  of  efficiency 
and  inefficiency,  two  or  three  of  the  largest  being 
model  establishments  of  world-wide  renown.  The 
average  level  is  said  to  be  a  high  one,  for  a  Jewish 
community  is  accustomed  to  make  it  a  point  of  honor 
that  their  hospital  should  be  at  least  as  well  found  as 
any  in  the  city.  The  existence  of  Jewish  hospitals  in 
America  is  probably  justified  as  a  means  of  protection 
against  social  prejudice.  Later  on,  they  will  doubtless 
become  an  anachronism,  if  only  because  the  provision 
of  hospitals  is  destined  to  become  a  branch  of  the  pub- 
lic service  in  all  civilized  lands. 

I  have  as  yet  said  nothing  about  the  most  impor- 
tant Jewish  charities, — those  that  give  direct  relief. 
These  societies,  although  sectional,  should  not,  I  think, 
be  regarded  as  denominational,  for  they  are  concerned 
with  Jews  as  members,  not  of  a  religious  community, 
but  of  a  race.  The  subscribers,  the  active  workers, 
the  honorary  officers  of  these  societies  are  in  many 
cases  Jews  by  descent  but  not  by  birth:  the  impulse 
that  makes  them  support  Jewish  charities  may  be 
called  religious — using  the  word  in  a  broad  sense — but 


120    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

it  is  certainly  not  denominational.  The  scrutiny  of  a 
subscription  list  supplies,  no  doubt,  an  insufficient 
basis  on  which  to  found  conclusions  as  to  the  aims  and 
methods  of  a  society.  The  social  work  of  the  Sal- 
vation Army,  for  example,  is  ancillary  to  its  spiritual 
activities,  although  it  obtains  financial  support  from  all 
and  sundry.  But  not  so  with  the  modern  representa- 
tive charities  that  relieve  Jewish  distress.  The  closer 
we  examine  them,  the  more  we  are  struck  with  their 
secular  outlook.  Those  who  apply  to  them  for  assist- 
ance gain  nothing  by  mjaking  professions  of  piety.  It 
is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  agents  of  such  bodies 
as  the  Jewish  Board  of  Guardians  in  London,  whether 
or  not  their  "clients"  attend  synagogue  or  observe  the 
Jewish  ritual  laws.7  Acceptance  of  assistance  from 
Christian  missions  is  the  only  offense  against  Juda- 
ism, which  is  still  penalized  and  then  only  in  aggra- 
vated cases  where  there  have  been  systematic  de- 
ception and  double-dealing.  In  the  matter  of  Sabbath 
observance,  the  policy  of  the  Board  tends  to  increase, 
rather  than  to  lessen,  the  prevailing  laxity.  No  spe- 
cial consideration  would  be  given,  I  think,  to  an  appli- 
cant whose  need  arose  from  refusal  to  work  on  the 


7It  was .  not  always  so.  Unobservant  Jews  used  to  forfeit 
all  claims  for  assistance  (See  p.  79  above).  Even  in  1831, 
the  Comite  de  Bienfaisance  of  Paris  rejected  as  unseemly 
(inconvenant)  the  offer  of  a  certain  M.  Fould,  a  banker,  to  give 
twenty-five  loads  of  wood  for  distribution  during  the  winter 
months,  "five  of  which  were  to  be  reserved  for  heads  of  fam- 
ilies, whose  children  worked  at  a  trade,  and  especially  for  those 
who  worked  on  Saturdays  as  on  other  days."  (Kahn  "Histoire 
de  la  Communaute  Israelite  de  Paris,  Le  Comite  de  Bienfaisance 
p.  24.) 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF  TODAY        121 

Sabbath.  Some  of  the  Board's  activity  actually  fos- 
ters Sabbath-breaking.  Their  wise  efforts  to  promote 
Jewish  dispersion  from  congested  districts  have  this 
tendency  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  their  appren- 
ticeship work,  which  withdraws  lads  from  trades  dis- 
tinctively Jewish.  It  is  true  that  the  apprentices  are 
not  permitted  to  work  on  the  Sabbath,  but  most  of 
them  do  so  after  the  expiration  of  their  indentures. 
This  result  may  be  regretted  by  some  of  the  Board's 
members  and  subscribers,  but  they  make  no  serious 
effort  to  prevent  it. 

The  secular  outlook  of  modern  Jewish  charity 
is  perhaps  illustrated  by  the  exclusion  of  the  clergy 
from  the  membership  of  the  Jewish  Board  of  Guar- 
dians in  London  by  an  'unwritten  rule' — a  rule  rig- 
idly maintained  for  many  years,  although  there  is 
one  recent  exception.8  Another  cause  for  this  exclu- 
sion is  the  belief  that  the  training  and  experience  of 
the  clergy,  as  well  as  the  atmosphere  in  which  they 
live,  tend  to  make  them  unbusinesslike.  This  belief 
is  partly  due  to  lay  prejudice,  but  there  is  some  truth 
in  it.  And  it  is  a  great  pity.  The  modern  synagogue 
need  not  directly  organize  social  service, — it  should 
not  do  so,  I  think, — but  it  will  be  false  to  its  mission, 
unless  it  inspire  social  service.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  for 
the  teacher  of  religion  to  preach  social  service;  he 


8This  practice  does  not  obtain  in  the  smaller  English  com- 
munities, where  the  Board  of  Guardians  has  no  paid  staff  and 
the  minister  acts  as  a  general  servant  to  the  congregation. 
It  is  to  be  found  in  some  of  the  larger  provincial  centres  but  not 
in  all.  At  Leeds,  the  Jewish  minister  plays  the  chief  part  in  the 
administration  of  charity. 


122    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

must  qualify  himself  to  practise  it  and  to  show  others 
how  they  are  to  do  so.  It  is  true  that  we  do  not  want 
all  our  Rabbis  to  be  of  the  same  type.  The  scholarly 
minister,  who  is  an  authority  in  Jewish  learning,  and 
the  clerical  educational  expert  are  both  essential  fig- 
ures. But  most  of  the  working  Rabbis,  who  will  serve 
the  congregations  of  the  not  distant  future,  will  be 
above  everything  social  workers  and  inspirers  of  so- 
cial work.  The  training  which  they  receive  in  their 
student  days  must  be  planned  accordingly.9  It  would 
also  be  advantageous  if  most  Rabbis,  before  assuming 
the  charge  of  a  congregation  undertook  settlement 
work  for  a  year  or  so,  or  were  employed  in  the  office 
of  a  Jewish  charitable  or  educational  society.  They 
would  thus  be  enabled  to  gain  a  grasp  of  affairs,  that 
would  stand  them  in  good  stead  throughout  their  min- 
istry. 

It  is  highly  desirable  that  Rabbis  should  co-operate 
in  charitable  work.  At  the  same  time,  the  organiza- 
tion of  Jewish  relief  has  rightly  been  entrusted  to 
agencies,  independent  of  the  synagogue.10  The  best 
thought  of  the  day  outside  the  Jewish  community  as 
within  it  does  not  favor  the  administration  of  relief 


9A  candidate  for  the  title  of  Rabbi,  should  be  required  to 
complete  satisfactorily  one  of  several  alternative  courses  in 
addition  to  obtaining  a  competent  elementary  knowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  language  and  of  Jewish  history,  literature  and  theology. 
If  he  specializes  in  a  branch  or  in  branches  of  sociology, 
the  instruction  in  this  subject  as  given  in  his  University  should 
be  supplemented  by  special  tuition  in  a  Rabbinical  college, 
in  the  principles  and  technique  of  Jewish  social  service. 

10In  a  German  city,  however,  the  Armen-Commission  der 
Jiidischen  Gemeinde  consists  of  delegates  from  the  local  con- 
gregations. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE  OF  TODAY        123 

through  the  churches.  The  clergyman,  as  social 
worker,  will  render  the  best  service,  when  he  co-oper- 
ates with  the  members  of  a  society  over  whom  he  can 
claim  no  authority  except  that  derived  from  the  con- 
fidence, which  his  single-minded  zeal  and  ability  in- 
spire. However  great  his  knowledge,  skill  and  fair- 
ness may  be  in  dealing  with  problems  of  destitution, 
he  should  not  be  constituted  as  an  administrator  of  relief 
ex-offido.  If  he  acts  in  this  capacity  with  an  authority  de- 
rived from  his  office,  it  is  almost  inevitable  that  a 
false  idea  of  religion  wll  acquire  currency.  It  will  be 
supposed,  especially  by  the  uneducated,  that  prefer- 
ence is  given  to  those  applicants  for  relief,  who  attend 
worship  and  make  professions  of  piety.  Once  this 
idea  is  abroad,  bad  results  cannot  but  follow.  The 
house  of  God  will  become  the  resort  of  plausible  hum- 
bugs. Worse  still,  the  prevailing  opinion  amongst 
persons  of  sturdy  independence,  who  should  be  the 
best  friends  of  religious  bodies,  will  grow  hostile  to 
them.  The  modern  synagogue  is  almost  entirely  free 
from  these  evil  conditions,  which  still  disfigure  many 
of  the  modern  churches.  Such  conformity  with  Jewish 
ceremonial  observance,  as  survives  amongst  laymen 
in  the  countries  of  enlightenment,  is  disinterested,  for 
the  appearance  of  piety  has  long  ceased  to  be  profit- 
able. The  would-be  beneficiary  of  organized  Jewish 
charity  is  offered  no  inducement  to  play  the  part  of  a 
religious  hypocrite. 

The  representative  Jewish  relief  agencies  are,  I  re- 
peat, essentially  undenominational.  Yet  they  are  Jew- 
ish, that  is,  administered  by  Jews  for  the  benefit  of 


124    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

their  fellow-Jews.  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  maintain 
special  societies  of  this  character — shall  I  not  say  be- 
cause we  are  a  peculiar  people?  It  is  at  least  certain 
that  a  Jewish  applicant  for  relief  in  an  American  or 
English  city  is  a  very  different  person  from  most 
gentile  applicants.  He  is  generally  a  native  of  a  Rus- 
sian, Austrian  or  Roumanian  ghetto.11  If  not  a  recent 
arrival,  his  physical  or  mental  condition  is  probably 
such  that  he  is  below  the  average,  reached  by  most  of 
his  co-religionists,  in  ability  to  adapt  himself  to  a  new 
environment;  otherwise  he  would  have  made  himself 
independent  of  charity.  And  he  often  has  withal  some- 
thing of  the  spirit  of  the  wanderer.  Having  few  local 
attachments,  he  is  willing  to  try  his  luck  anywhere. 
He  may  speak  no  language  but  Yiddish,  he  may  ap- 
pear to  be  the  most  helpless  creature  imaginable ;  yet 
he  will  transfer  his  fortunes  upon  slight  inducement 
from  London  to  Paris,  to  New  York,  to  Cape  Town,  to 
Buenos  Ayres.  Hence  Jewish  charities  have  to  deal 
every  day  with  problems  that  are  much  less  character- 
istic of  the  gentile  world, —  the  problem  of  the  deserted 
wife,  the  problem  of  the  destitute  traveller,  who  is 
not  a  tramp  but  a  home-seeker.  Again,  Jewish  char- 
ities are  called  upon  to  assist  a  large  number  of  refu- 
gees, some  of  whom  have  left  Eastern  Europe  with- 
out being  taught  a  trade,  whilst  others  have  to  apply 
their  knowledge  of  a  handicraft  to  the  methods  of 

11  In  the  fiscal  year  ending  September  30,  1913,  there  were 
6498  applicants  for  relief  to  the  United  Hebrew  Charities  of 
New  York.  Of  these,  only  174  were  native  Americans.  Na- 
tive applicants  to  the  London  Jewish  Board  of  Guardians  dur- 
ing 1913,  were  492,  the  total  number  of  applicants  being  3592. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF  TODAY        125 

practising  it  that  prevails  in  another  country,  or,  if 
this  be  impossible,  to  seek  a  new  avocation.  To  help 
them  to  become  self-supporting,  there  is  scope  for 
much  specialized  ability. 

The  utility  of  Jewish  societies  for  dealing  with  Jew- 
ish poverty  does  not  merely  depend  upon  the  peculiar 
features  of  their  work.  It  depends  also  upon  the  fact 
that  there  is  more  mutual  understanding  between  Jew 
and  Jew  than  between  Jew  and  Christian,  unless  the 
Christian  is  a  person  of  exceptional  gifts.  There  is 
not  much  chance  of  helping  a  man,  unless  you  can 
gain  his  confidence,  for  you  must  induce  him  to  tell 
you  just  where  the  trouble  lies  so  that  you  may 
be  enabled  to  discuss  with  him  possible  remedies. 
But  it  is  one  of  the  disagreeable  facts  about 
organized  charity  that  it  breeds  an  atmosphere  of 
suspicion.  The  would-be  recipient  is  tempted  to 
represent  his  plight  in  the  most  dismal  colors,  whilst 
the  agents  of  the  relief  society  are  keen  to  detect  im- 
posture or  exaggeration.  It  is  especially  difficult  to 
dispel  this  mutual  suspicion,  when  one  is  dealing  with 
Jewish  cases.  The  Jewish  immigrant  has  been  bred  in 
a  hard  school;  he  has  been  harried  and  harassed 
all  his  life  by  petty  official  and  by  populace ;  he  has 
learned  to  surround  himself  with  a  protective  armor 
of  deception  and  mistrust  as  a  mere  measure  of 
self-defense.  He  is  genuinely  amiable  and  courteous, 
much  more  so  indeed  than  the  average  English  work- 
man. If  a  stranger  visits  a  gentile  home  in  East  Lon- 
don, the  interview  will  probably  begin  and  end  in  the 
street;  if  he  visits  a  foreign  Jew  he  will  be  at  once 


126    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

invited  indoors  and  the  best  chair  will  be  dusted  for 
his  reception.  This  friendliness  is  quite  genuine  but 
it  does  not  prevent  the  foreign  Jew  from  distrusting 
the  gentile,  to  whom,  in  turn,  his  aim  and  morals,  with 
their  queer  combination  of  meannesses  and  ideal  as- 
pirations, must  always  remain  something  of  a  puzzle 
Non- Jewish  charitable  societies  (apart  from  those  con- 
nected with  missionary  efforts)  are  always  glad  to  re- 
fer Jewish  cases  to  the  communal  agencies,  that  are 
better  able  to  deal  with  them. 

But  here  an  attentive  reader  of  my  paper  may  per- 
haps be  disposed  to  interpolate  two  pertinent  ques- 
tions. If  the  foreign  Jew  distrusts  the  Gentile,  has 
he  more  confidence  in  those  who  appear  to  value  their 
English,  German  or  American  citizenship  more  than 
their  Judaism  ?  Do  the  latter  understand  him  and  his 
requirements?  We  can  answer  both  these  questions 
in  the  affirmative,  but  not  without  considerable  quali- 
fications. The  foreign  Jew  has  much  in  common  with 
his  native  brother.  His  children,  if  not  he,  are  the 
raw  material  out  of  which  the  Jew  with  western  cul- 
ture is  to  be  made;  he  himself  usually  looks  forward 
to  the  process  with  satisfaction;  he  has  considerable 
admiration  and  respect  for  the  finished  article.  And 
if  we  are  asked  for  proof  that  the  native  Jews  of  West- 
ern countries  feel  practical  sympathy  for  their  immi- 
grant brethren,  we  point  instinctively  to  the  splendid 
charities,  designed  for  the  advancement  of  the  He- 
brew race,  to  which  so  much  money,  so  much  thought, 
so  much  devoted  personal  service  are  given.  The  main 
burden  of  supporting  these  charities  rests  everywhere, 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF  TODAY        127 

it  is  true,  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  public-spirited  min- 
ority and  many,  who  are  in  a  position  to  help,  stand 
ignobly  aloof.  But  this  is  a  drawback  to  which  all 
voluntary  endeavor  is  subject.  When  all  deductions 
have  been  made,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  representa- 
tive Israelite,  whose  word  carries  weight  in  the  pro- 
fessional or  business  world,  is  usually  a  man  who  gives 
his  money,  his  time,  or  both  to  serve  the  poor  of  his 
people.  Of  course  his  motive  is  not  always  the  highest. 
He  may  subscribe  to  a  charity,  in  which  he  is  not  great*- 
ly  interested,  because  he  has  received  an  appeal  from 
some  one  whom  he  cannot  well  refuse.  Or  he  may  be 
a  social  climber,  who  pays  his  shot  for  the  privilege 
of  sitting  on  a  Committee,  in  company  with  those 
whom  he  would  not  meet  elsewhere.  But  it  would 
require  the  folly  of  a  professional  cynic  to  make  us 
suppose  that  such  motives  are  often  the  dominant  ones. 
If  present  at  all,  they  are  subordinate ;  whilst  most  of 
those  who  support  Jewish  charities  have  no  selfish 
purpose  to  serve.  Their  good  will  towards  their  peo- 
ple is  absolutely  genuine. 

Yet  native  Jew  and  foreign-born  Jew  do  not  co- 
operate as  they  should  in  charitable  work.  Foreign 
Jews,  who  make  a  fortune,  may  or  may  not  support  Jew- 
ish charities.  Much  more  numerous  are  those  who  ob- 
tain a  fair  measure  of  success,  after  they  have  settled 
for  a  few  years  in  their  new  home,  but  retain  their 
old  ideas  and  methods  of  living.  They  are  mostly 
charitable  people,  yet  they  include  but  few  supporters 
of  the  chief  communal  institutions,  which  they  re- 
gard as  tainted  with  too  much  officialdom,  with  too 


128    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

many  refusals  of  assistance,  with  an  excess  of  "scien- 
tific" charity  and  a  deficiency  of  rachamanuth  (tender- 
ness of  heart).  Accurate  criticism  this  is  not,  but  its 
utterance  is  natural,  so  long  as  the  administrators  of 
Jewish  charity  neglect  to  take  counsel  with  the  lar- 
ger section  of  the  community — that  section  to  which 
belong  not  only  most  applicants  for  help  but  also  a 
large  proportion  of  those  immigrants,  who  are  hard- 
working, self-supporting  and  in  some  cases  prosperous. 
If  the  co-operation  of  such  men  were  secured,  the  pub- 
lic opinion  of  the  community  with  regard  to  charitable 
administration  would  become  better  informed.  Many 
good  results  would  obviously  follow.  Inefficient  and 
superfluous  societies  would  disappear,  or  they  would 
be  reconstituted  as  local  branches  of  the  organized 
machinery  of  communal  charity.  The  schnorrer12  and 
the  begging-letter  writer  would  cease  to  find  encourage- 
ment. The  m,oral  authority  of  Jewish  charities  would 
be  far  greater  than  it  is  now,  for  their  policy  would 
no  longer  be  that  which  the  rich  enforce  upon  the  poor, 
but  it  would  be  backed  by  the  best  mind  of  all  sections 
in  Israel.  This  is  the  surest  way  to  give  permanence 
to  social  work.  It  is  not  enough  to  help  people 
wisely;  we  must  either  help  them  in  accordance  with 
their  wishes,  or  convince  them  that  wisdom  lies  in 
our  ideas  and  not  in  theirs.  In  other  words,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  apply  democratic  principles  to  charitable  ad- 
ministration. Now  our  existing  Jewish  institutions  are 
far  from  being  democratically  managed.  "The  bell 

i2See  p.  107. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL  SERVICE  OF  TODAY        129 

has  become  the  symbol  of  the  Jewish  Board  of  Guard- 
ians," wrote  the  London  correspondent  of  a  New  York 
Yiddish  newspaper13 — the  bell,  rung  by  an  official  to 
notify  an  applicant  that  his  interview  with  the  Com- 
mittee is  at  an  end  and  that  he  must  leave  the  office 
without  further  ado.  The  bell  does  not  reason,  it 
passes  judgment:  such  is  the  typical  attitude  of  a  plu- 
tocracy, benevolent  and  intelligent,  but  imperious  to- 
wards its  dependents,  when  they  are  inclined  to  kick 
over  the  traces.  That  which  seems  the  shortest  way 
of  arriving  at  the  goal  desired,  may  prove  the  longest 
in  the  end :  it  is  better  to  govern  with  the  good  will  of 
the  governed,  even  although  it  is  necessary  to  educate 
them  first.  I  have  no  scheme  to  suggest  whereby  these 
generalities  may  be  translated  into  action.  It  seems 
clear,  however,  that  the  governing  bodies  of  our  char- 
ities should  gradually  be  made  representative  of  all 
sections  of  the  community.  In  dealing  with  Metro- 
politan relief  problems,  the  best  results  will  perhaps 
be  obtained  by  the  establishment  of  local  committees, 
to  which  a  central  Board  will  delegate  some  of  its 
powers.  Tentative  steps  in  this  direction  should  cer- 
tainly be  made. 

In  many  cases,  charity  is  unable  to  remove  the 
causes  of  distress  and  can  only  mitigate  its  effects 
by  the  application  of  palliatives.  Some  difficult  ques- 
tions of  principle  arise  in  this  branch  of  Jewish  char- 
itable administration.  The  honest  workman,  left  des- 
titute by  old  age  or  by  a  breakdown  in  health,  should 


'Die  Wahrheit,"  September  8,  1913. 


130    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

be  honorably  pensioned  either  by  his  late  employer, 
by  a  charitable  society,  or  by  the  State.  If  worthy  of 
help  at  all,  he  is  worthy  of  adequate  help,  so  that  he 
may  live  in  reasonable  comfort  with  the  members  of 
his  family.  On  the  other  hand  the  character,  method 
of  life  and  past  record  of  many  applicants  for  relief 
are  such,  that  no  charitable  society  is  disposed  to  spend 
much  upon  them.  The  problem  of  their  maintenance 
is  not  to  be  solved  by  doles ;  it  must  be  undertaken  by 
the  State  on  an  entirely  different  basis.  But  communal 
charity  hardly  tries  to  carry  out  these  principles.  In 
too  many  cases,  it  can  spare  but  insufficient  help  for 
the  deserving  poor,  who  are  permanently  disabled, 
because  a  portion  of  its  resources  have  been  dissi- 
pated in  casual  relief  to  the  unhelpable.  Unfortun- 
ately it  has  become  a  dogma  of  Judaism  that  Jews 
always  support  their  own  poor.  In  point  of  fact,  they 
do  not  and  cannot  support  them  completely.  Various 
communal  societies  receive  subsidies  from  public 
funds,  and  many  Jews  are  inmates  of  municipal  in- 
stitutions. Above  all,  the  extent  of  Jewish  destitution 
is  such,  that  no  private  societies  could  adequately 
cover  the  entire  field.  This  patent  fact  would  be  more 
generally  recognized  and  the  cruel  kindness  of  giving 
inadequate  relief  would  be  discontinued,  were  it  not  for 
the  fear  of  arousing  anti- Jewish  prejudice.  We  must 
learn  to  take  the  world  into  our  confidence;  that  is 
the  braver  and  wiser  course. 

The  most  encouraging  feature  of  modern  Jewish 
charity  is  the  attention  given  to  remedial  meas- 
ures, old  and  new,  and  to  preventive  work,  which  pro- 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE  OF  TODAY        131 

vides  a  cure  for  social  evils  before  the  emergency  for 
dealing  with  these  evils  actually  presents  itself.  I 
wish  I  could  have  found  statistics,  showing  how  often 
a  little  timely  help  given  to  a  family,  struggling  with 
sickness  or  misfortune,  has  made  them  self-supporting 
thereafter.  Cases  of  the  kind  are  certainly  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  Jewish  promoters  of  charity  are  also 
mindful  of  the  old  Rabbinic  principle  that  a  loan 
is  often  better  than  a  gift.  Loan  departments  are  at- 
tached to  some  of  the  larger  communal  institutions 
and  similar  work  is  carried  out  by  separate  societies, 
organized  for  the  purpose.  Money  is  lent  without  in- 
terest for  business  purposes,  a  responsible  surety  or 
sureties  being  required.  The  loan  is  repaid  in  weekly 
instalments.  The  remarkable  feature  of  this  work  is 
that  the  proportion  of  bad  debts  is  very  small,  al- 
though the  borrowers  are,  of  course,  poor  people.  In 
the  case  of  the  Hebrew  Free  Loan  (Gemilath  Chasodim) 
Society  of  New  York,  the  proportion  of  irrecoverables 
is  about  3/5  of  1  per  cent,  out  of  $632,000  lent  during 
the  last  financial  year.  Jewish  agencies  for  granting 
philanthropic  loans  are  generally  successful  because 
the  need  which  they  meet  is  widely  felt.  The  ambi- 
tion of  most  Jews  is  to  start  in  business  for  themselves, 
so  that  they  may  work  for  profits  and  not  for  wages. 
In  many  cases,  a  timely  loan  will  launch  them  on  their 
career.14 


14For  the  sake  of  completeness,  mention  should  be  made  of 
the  loans  without  surety  that  are  granted  by  the  Relief  Com- 
mittee of  the  Jewish  Board  of  Guardians  of  London,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  advances  made  by  their  Loan  Committee.  The 
repayment  of  these  relief  loans  is  not  enforced  and  very  little 


132    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Manful  efforts  have  been  made  by  Jewish  charity  in 
recent  years  to  fight  against  tuberculosis,  less  preval- 
ent amongst  Jews  than  amongst  the  general  popula- 
tion, yet  terribly  destructive.  It  has  long  been  known 
that  the  disease  was  arrested  by  removal  to  a  purer 
and  dryer  atmosphere,  but  the  work  of  a  sanatorium 
was  long  ineffective,  because  the  patient  relapsed  so 
rapidly  after  his  return  to  the  old  bad  conditions.  On 
the  other  hand,  emigration,  which  gives  the  consump- 
tive his  best  chance  of  recovery,  is  generally  imprac- 
ticable. Much  good  can  be  effected,  however,  by  the 
after-care  of  consumptives  in  their  own  homes,  so 
that  the  patients  themselves  and  the  members  of  their 
families,  who  may  be  predisposed  to  the  disease,  are 
enabled  to  live  under  good  conditions.  In  New  York, 
a  joint  Committee  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities 
and  of  the  Free  Synagogue  is  applying  this  treatment 
in  a  number  of  cases.  Striking  results  have  been  al- 
ready obtained.  "A  careful  investigation  made  by  the 
Committee,  of  495  cases  of  persons  discharged  from 
Bedford  Sanitarium,  showed  that  55  per  cent  suffered 
a  relapse  within  a  short  time  after  their  discharge  and 
a  return  to  their  former  environment.  Of  the  fam- 
ilies cared  for  by  the  Joint  Committee  only  8  per  cent 
relapsed  into  their  former  condition."  In  London, 


is  recovered.  (In  the  Board's  annual  reports,  the  amount  re- 
paid is  not  stated,  although  we  can  probably  deduce  it  from 
the  figures  given.)  These  loans  seem  often  to  be  offered  with 
the  purpose  of  stimulating  the  semi-schnorrer  to  self-reliance; 
failure  to  repay  the  loan  is  a  bar  to  future  relief,  except  in 
the  case  of  sickness  or  other  emergency.  Relief  loans  are 
also  granted  by  the  United  Hebrew  Charities  of  New  York  and 
the  proportion  of  repayments  is  much  larger. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL  SERVICE   OF  TODAY        133 

where  similar  methods  are  employed,  about  one  fourth 
of  the  total  expenditure  of  the  Relief  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Guardians  is  now  used  for  the  benefit  of  con- 
sumptives and  their  families. 

Another  splendid  branch  of  remedial  work,  in  which 
the  American  Jews  have  achieved  remarkable  success, 
is  that  undertaken  by  the  National  Desertion  Bureau. 
The  great  evil  of  wife  desertion,  which  is  the  sorest 
blot  of  Jewish  home  life,  has  been  greatly  reduced 
and  will  in  time  become  uncommon.  These  results 
have  been  made  possible,  because  the  abandonment 
of  a  child  has  now  been  made  a  felony  in  most  or  all 
of  the  United  States;  offenders,  when  located,  are  sub- 
ject to  inter-state  extradition  and  are  prosecuted  by 
the  District-Attorney.  But  this  bare  statement  gives 
very  little  idea  of  the  far-reaching  and  varied  charac- 
ter of  the  work  effected.  Offenders  are  traced  with 
great  ingenuity  and  success;  reconciliations  between 
husband  and  wife  are  arranged  whenever  possible ;  in 
other  cases,  the  husband  is  induced  to  agree  to  sign 
an  agreement  for  a  voluntary  separation  with  due  pro- 
vision for  his  wife  and  children.  In  more  extreme 
cases,  where  prosecution  is  necessary,  sentence  is  sus- 
pended upon  a  promise  to  contribute  a  specified 
amount  for  the  support  of  the  family.13  Similar  work 
should  be  attempted  in  Europe,  although  the  same  de- 
gree of  success  could  hardly  be  hoped  for.  I  suggest 
to  the  Board  of  Deputies  of  British  Jews  that  they 


15The  work  is  fully  described  in  the  Report  of  the  National 
Confeience  of  Jewish  Charities  in  the  United  States,  held  at 
Cleveland  in  1912. 


134    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

might  well  take  up  the  subject,  in  its  legal  and  inter- 
national aspects. 

The  most  important  problems  of  Jewish  preventive 
philanthropy  in  the  United  States  are  probably  those 
connected  with  immigration.  The  new  arrivals  are  so 
numerous  and  usually  so  untaught.  They  face  serious 
dangers  and  temptations ;  in  order  to  succeed,  they  must 
learn  to  accommodate  themselves  to  an  unfamiliar  envi- 
ronment. When  they  arrive,  they  must  be  assisted  to 
find  their  friends;  they  must  be  given  all  necessary  in- 
formation to  save  them  from  falling  into  bad  hands; 
they  must  receive,  when  necessary,  a  temporary  shel- 
ter and  assistance  in  finding  employment.  Amongst 
the  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  not  the  least  perplex- 
ing are  those  which  arise  from  a  "new  phenomenon  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  that  of  the  migrating,  un- 
attached young  girl  travelling  alone,  *  *  *  break- 
ing or  loosening  ties  of  family  temporarily  or  perma- 
mently,  detaching  herself  from  all  that  was  familiar 
and  going  out  into  the  world."16  All  this  work  is 
undertaken  with  remarkable  originality,  sympathy  and 
business  ability  by  the  Hebrew  Sheltering  and  Im- 
migrant Aid  Society,  by  the  Council  of  Jewish  Women, 
and  by  the  Clara  de  Hirsch  Home  for  Immigrant  Girls. 

Almost  equally  important  are  the  operations  of  the 
Industrial  Removal  Office  (financed  by  the  Jewish  Co- 
lonial Association),  which  deals  with  applicants,  who 
wish  to  leave  New  York  for  interior  cities.  This  work 


16Proceeding  of  the  Sixth  Triennial  Convention  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Jewish  Women  (1911)  :  Executive  Secretary's  Report, 
p.  76. 


JEWISH   SOCIAL   SERVICE  OF  TODAY        135 

requires  great  delicacy  of  handling.  The  highly  com- 
petent workman  who  can  shift  for  himself,  does  not  re- 
quire assistance.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  worse  than 
useless  to  send  away  those  who  are  too  incompetent 
to  achieve  economic  independence  anywhere.  The 
persons  dealt  with  have  been  unsuccessful  in  New 
York  through  force  of  circumstances,  but  it  is  judged 
that  they  are  capable  of  doing  better  elsewhere.  They 
are  carefully  selected  and  sent  to  communities,  that 
express  willingness  to  receive  them.  In  1913,  6469 
persons  were  sent  away,  mostly  to  the  central  States. 
The  direct  results  achieved  are  admirable,  but  the  in- 
direct influence  of  the  work  is  probably  more  impor- 
tant still.  "A  case  in  point  is  that  of  certain  city  in 
Indiana,  which  ten  years  ago  had  a  Jewish  population 
of  not  more  than  thirty  families  all  of  German  origin. 
To-day  a  conservative  estimate  places  the  nurriber  at 
one  thousand.  The  Removal  Office  has  not  sent  more 
than  one-third  of  that  number"17 

Much  might  be  added  about  the  devices  adopted  in 
America  -  to  prevent  abuses,  that  commonly  arise 
in  charitable  administration.  The  recent  establishment 
in  New  York  of  the  Social  Service  Exchange,  in 
which  Jewish  bodies  participate,  deserves  especial 
mention.18  Every  charitable  society  of  importance  in 


*7The  Removal  Work,  Including  Galveston,  by  David  M. 
Bressler,  presented  before  the  "National  Conference  of  Jewish 
Charities"  (1910).  An  interesting  experiment,  on  the  same 
lines  as  those  indicated  above,  was  undertaken  in  England 
on  a  small  scale,  under  the  auspices  of  the  late  Lord  Swaythling 

18Similar  Exchanges  exist  in  some  other  cities  notably  at 
Boston.  At  Berlin,  elaborate  precautions  are  taken  to  prevent 
overlapping. 


136    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

the  city  now  furnishes  this  central  exchange  with  a 
list  of  all  the  cases  which  it  relieves.  Overlapping  is 
thus  reduced  to  a  minimum;  it  is  even  avoided  as  be- 
tween Jewish  charities  and  the  principal  missions  for 
promoting  Christianity  amongst  the  Jews.  Very  im- 
portant also  is  the  work  of  the  Transportation  Com- 
mittee of  the  National  Conference  of  Jewish  Char- 
ities. The  different  communities  throughout  the 
United  States  have  undertaken  not  to  forward  an  ap- 
plicant for  transportation  from  one  city  to  another 
without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  city  of  destin- 
ation. When  this  rule  is  violated,  the  initial  city  in- 
demnifies the  city  of  destination  for  any  expense  in- 
curred. When  disputes  arise  between  different  cities, 
they  are  referred  for  settlement  to  the  Transporta- 
tion Committee.  It  is  a  system  which  should  be 
adopted  in  other  countries. 

In  the  Jewish  world  there  are  many  other  forms  of 
charitable  work.  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this 
paper  to  name  them  all,  far  less  to  describe  them.  It 
is  clear,  however,  that  the  whole  subject  is  one  for 
comparative  study.  Jewish  social  service  would 
everywhere  be  more  efficient  if  we  knew  accurately 
how  it  was  rendered  by  our  brethren  in  other  lands. 
The  subject  should  be  treated  extensively  and  also  in- 
tensively. Very  valuable  would  be  a  descriptive  and 
critical  survey  of  world-wide  Jewish  charity,  in  which 
the  broad  aspects  of  the  subject  were  alone  considered. 
This  work  should  be  accompanied  or  perhaps  preceded 
by  a  series  of  monographs,  each  devoted  to  a  single 
branch  of  Jewish  charity  and  based  upon  thorough  in- 


JEWISH   SOCIAL  SERVICE  OF  TODAY        13? 

vestigation  of  the  work,  which  is  carried  out  by  exist- 
ing institutions.  The  preparation  of  such  volumes 
would  involve  considerable  expense,  but  this  could 
easily  be  met,  if  it  represented,  as  is  fitting,  the  com- 
bined effort  of  universal  Israel.  In  order  to  supply 
the  initial  impetus,  an  international  congress  on  Jew- 
ish social  service  should  be  convened.  I  venture  to 
think  that  such  an  assembly  would  serve  this  pur- 
pose and  many  others.  Its  published  proceedings 
would  form  in  themselves  a  document  of  unique  value. 
The  constitution  of  the  Congress  would  furnish  an  in- 
spiring object-lesson  in  the  vital  strength  of  Jewish 
solidarity;  for  it  might  be  made  thoroughly  represen- 
tative of  our  race.  The  Zionist  and  the  anti-Zion- 
ist, the  orthodox  and  reformer  would  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  exchange  ideas  upon  topics  of  common  con- 
cern. They  would  disperse,  after  the  congress  was 
over,  with  a  clearer  realization  of  work  to  be  shared  in 
their  people's  cause. 


VI 
THE  CITY  OF  GOD 

"They  shall  call  thee  the  city  of  the  Lord,  the  Zion 
of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  So  prophesied  one  of  those 
seers,  whose  collected  works  are  known  to  us  as  the 
book  of  Isaiah.  There  was,  of  course,  no  novelty  in 
the  idea  that  Jerusalem  was  a  sacred  city.  It  was  the 
city,  wherein  the  temple  had  once  stood, — the  city  of 
sacred  memories.  The  theme  of  the  prophet  is  not, 
however,  the  past  glory  of  Jerusalem,  but  its  future 
transfiguration.  According  to  his  thought,  the  City  of 
God  is  the  new  Jerusalem,  the  ideal  city  yet  to  be.  To 
the  carnal  eye,  it  might  look  like  the  actual  city  of  to- 
day, but  the  eye  of  the  spirit  will  see  in  it  a  marvellous 
change.  The  officers  of  the  city  will  be  peace  and  its 
exactors  righteousness.  Violence  and  destruction  will 
no  longer  be  heard  therein;  its  walls  shall  be  called 
salvation  and  its  gates,  praise.  "The  light  that  never 
was  on  sea  and  land"  will  glow  on  the  faces  of 
the  citizens.  They  will  all  be  righteous  and  the  sun 
of  God's  presence  will  shine  within  their  hearts.  Vain 
dreams  of  national  ascendancy  pass  also  through  the 
prophet's  mind,  but  these  obscure  only  slightly  the 
brightness  of  his  vision — a  vision  which  can  be  realized 
in  its  essentials  not  only  in  his  own  Jerusalem  but  in 
any  spot  on  God's  earth,  where  evil  is  overcome  by 
virtue. 

139 


140    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

This  is  a  beautiful  picture,  but  many  would  deny 
that  it  is  more.  Amuse  yourselves  with  these  dreams, 
they  would  say,  as  you  would  seek  distraction  in  a 
romance,  but  forget  them  during  your  workaday  hours. 
But  this  is  bad  advice;  it  is  unpractical  as  well,  al- 
though it  comes  from  those  who  consider  themselves 
practical  people.  All  the  world's  best  achievement 
springs  from  idealism,  of  which  we  cannot  have  too 
much,  provided  it  faces  the  facts  of  existence.  The 
day-dreamer  will  not  help  us  much,  it  is  true,  for  he 
lacks  concentration  and  remains  out  of  touch  with  the 
world  of  reality.  The  serviceable  idealist  not  only 
dreams  dreams  but  tries  to  realize  them.  His  is  a  vi- 
rile idealism,  that  is  allied  to  close  thought.  He  takes 
account  of  the  forces  that  retard  progress  as  well  as 
of  those  that  promote  it.  But  being  a  man  of  faith,  he 
is  confident  that  the  obstructions  confronting  the  for- 
ward march  of  humanity  are  not  insurmountable ; 
there  is  a  way  through  to  the  light  which  can  and  must 
be  won.  Such  idealism  will  get  things  done,  that  are 
beyond  the  ken  of  those,  who  have  ceased  to  hope  and 
work  for  better  things.  In  science,  in  business,  in 
politics,  in  all  the  traffic  of  life,  it  is  the  man  of  genius 
with  a  vision,  who  achieves  the  big  results.  It  is  good 
for  ordinary  people,  who  are  far  from  being  men  and 
women  of  genius,  to  remember  this.  None  of  us  is  al- 
together incapable  of  generous  vision.  If  we  cultivate 
this  faculty,  we  shall  exact  from  life  the  highest  pos- 
sibilities, which  it  has  to  offer  us ;  we  shall  do  our  work 
better,  and  certainly  we  shall  enjoy  it  more. 

It  may  further  be  pointed  out  that  two  kinds  of 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  141 

idealism  are  required  for  the  building  up  of  the  City 
of  God.  There  is  the  idealism  of  the  practical  man,  en- 
gaged in  clearing  away  the  next  two  or  three  visible 
obstructions  to  progress  in  some  department  of  bene- 
ficial activity.  Such  idealism  belongs,  for  example,  to 
the  statesman  or  captain  of  industry,  who  combines 
practical  sagacity  and  knowledge  of  affairs  with  gen- 
erous enthusiasm  and  belief  in  the  possibilities  of  hu- 
man nature.  It  is  needed,  in  a  lesser  degree,  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  humanity ;  otherwise  the  appeal  made  to 
them  by  their  leaders  will  call  forth  no  worthy  re- 
sponse. In  a  democratic  state,  in  particular,  it  is  es- 
sential that  there  should  be  a  common  stock  of  vital- 
izing ideas,  that  bear  upon  present-day  problems.  Few 
are  the  masters  who  are  capable  of  originating  these 
great  thoughts,  but  many  will  become  disciples  of  the 
masters,  if  their  minds  are  convinced,  their  imagin- 
ations fired,  their  hearts  touched.  We  need  therefore 
a  second  kind  of  idealist,  whose  strength  does  not  lie 
in  administrative  ability  but  in  his  insight  into  ulti- 
mate realities.  He  does  not  tell  us  how  to  do  things, 
(or  if  he  does  he  generally  tells  us  wrong)  but  we 
learn  from  him  what  things  are  worth  doing  and  he 
inspires  us  with  longing  to  see  them  accomplished.  Be 
he  poet,  creative  thinker,  tribune  of  the  people,  pro- 
phet,— he  moves  his  generation  and  may  continue  to 
move  posterity  "to  sympathy  with  hopes  and  fears  it 
heeded  not."  Thus  he  does  the  world  a  great  service, 
possibly  the  greatest  of  all,  for  the  possession  of  an 
ideal  is  a  necessary  condition  for  all  true  progress. 
Our  life  lacks  unity  of  purpose,  unless  we  have  a  vision 


142    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

of  the  far-distant  time  when  the  perfect  life  for  the  in- 
dividual and  for  the  human  race  shall  at  last  be  real- 
ized. 

Now  observe  that  the  place  on  which  the  hopes  of 
the  prophet  were  set  is  a  city.  In  this  respect,  his 
words  come  closer  home  to  us,  for  the  whole  tendency, 
for  good  or  evil,  of  our  civilization  is  to  encourage 
urban  life  at  the  expense  of  rural  life.  "The  progress 
of  mankind,"  said  Canon  Barnett,  "is  from  an  ideal  gar- 
den to  an  ideal  city,  from  Eden  to  the  City  of  God." 
True  that  the  rapid  growth  of  most  cities  in  modern 
times  has  been  attended  by  many  patent  evils,  both 
material  and  spiritual ;  true  that  it  has  given  rise  to 
social  problems  of  peculiar  difficulty.  None  the  less, 
life  in  cities  has  been  at  once  an  essential  condition 
and  an  inevitable  result  of  modern  progress ;  through- 
out the  civilized  world  the  town  population  is  growing 
and  the  rural  population  tends  to  diminish,  actually 
or  relatively.  This  tendency  towards  concentration 
may  be  in  part  a  passing  phase ;  increased  facilities  of 
rapid  locomotion  may  enable  us  to  live,  or  at  least  to 
sleep,  amid  country  sights.  At  the  same  time,  the  city 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be  the  centre  of  human  pro- 
gress. It  is  part  of  the  divine  plan  that  this  should  be 
so.  Cowper's  thought  that  "God  made  the  country 
and  man  made  the  town"  is  superficial  at  best.  We 
smile  when  we  read  the  words  of  Socrates,  who  said 
that  in  the  city  he  could  learn  from  men,  but  the  fields 
and  the  trees  could  teach  him  nothing.  The  error  of 
caring  for  nature  to  the  exclusion  of  mankind  is  quite 
as  gross.  Wordsworth  who  called  himself  "a  wor- 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  143 

shipper  of  nature  unwearied  in  that  service"  learned 
that  he  could  best  appreciate  the  beauties  of  sound- 
ing cataract  and  lonely  stream  when  he  discerned  be- 
hind them  "the  still  sad  music  of  humanity." 

Let  us  prize  our  cities,  .therefore,  and  try  to  make 
them  holy  places.  Would  that  we  could  feel  for  them 
even  a  fraction  of  that  affection  which  made  the  inhab- 
itants of  Jerusalem  exclaim,  "If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jeru- 
salem, may  my  right  hand  forget  its  cunning!"  Such 
passionate  love  will  best  supply  a  motive  for  high  en- 
deavor, so  that  we  may  help  to  make  the  place  we  live 
in  a  worthy  home  for  its  teeming  masses. 

What  then  can  we  do  to  make  our  city  a  better 
place?  Many  things,  but  first  and  foremost  we  can 
perform  the  duties  that  lie  nearest  to  hand.  The  ordi- 
nary work  of  daily  life  must  be  performed  strenuously 
and  honorably.  The  prosperity  of  a  city  depends  upon 
the  vigor  with  which  the  inhabitants  apply  themselves 
to  their  various  avocations.  Through  the  example 
which  we  set  to  our  neighbors,  we  can,  each  of  us,  do 
something  to  raise  or  lower  the  moral  standard  that 
prevails.  The  spirit  of  sober  work  is  inspiring ;  the  man 
who  holds  rigidly  to  his  engagements  "who  swears  to 
his  own  hurt  yet  changes  not,"  will  brace  up  the  moral 
tone  of  his  neighbors.  On  the  other  hand,  the  example 
of  trickery  and  of  wild  speculation  is  sadly  infectious. 
In  these  days  of  keen  competition,  there  is  a  real  dan- 
ger that  rigid  standards  of  business  ethics  may  go  out 
of  fashion.  The  struggling  trader,  in  attempting  to 
keep  his  head  above  water,  is  sadly  tempted  to  imitate 
some  of  the  tricky  methods  employed  with  apparent 


144    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

success  by  his  less  scrupulous  rivals.  Nor  are  the  tac- 
tics of  "big  business"  always  above  suspicion.  It  does 
not  generally  pay  to  break  the  law,  but  its  terms  may 
often  be  evaded.  The  manufacturer,  working  under  a 
contract,  will  subject  himself  to  penalties,  if  he  fails 
to  supply  goods  according  to  specification,  but  it  may 
be  that  he  can  earn  many  a  dishonest  penny  by  lower- 
ing the  quality  of  work  or  material,  whilst  adher- 
ing to  the  letter  of  the  bargain.  In  the  long  run,  such 
devices  defeat  their  own  object;  profits  are  made  but 
"repeat"  orders  are  lost.  But  in  some  cases  an  im- 
mediate splash  is  all-important,  whatever  may  happen 
afterwards.  Or  again  bargains,  not  secured  by  a  bind- 
ing instrument,  are  dishonorably  repudiated,  if  the  turn 
of  the  market  has  rendered  them  unremunerative.  Such 
malpractices  as  these  destroy  that  mutual  confidence 
between  man  and  man,  which  is  the  breath  of  life  to 
a  commercial  community;  when  employed  in  export 
transactions,  they  are  unpatriotic  as  well  as  dishonor- 
able, for  the  culprits  injure  their  country's  credit 
abroad.  Public  opinion,  emphatic  and  universal,  will 
suppress  all  such  dishonorable  trading  in  the  City  of 
God.  We  must  likewise  strive  our  utmost  to  raise  the 
standard  of  knowledge,  taste  and  morality  in  contem- 
porary society,  so  that  the  sale  of  useless  trash  be  dis- 
continued, as  well  as  the  abuses,  mendacities  and 
wastefulness,  that  are  common  in  many  forms  of  ad- 
vertising. In  time  to  come,  the  law  will  suppress  much 
traffic  of  this  description,  as  it  already  forbids  the  sale 
of  food  products,  that  are  adulterated  or  injurious  to 
health.  Meanwhile,  each  of  us  can  do  something  to 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  145 

foster  the  growth  of  a  sane  public  sentiment,  which 
will  regard  it  as  infamous  to  deal  in  quack  medicine, 
in  tawdry  finery,  designed  to  tempt  the  working  girl 
to  foolish  extravagance,  in  painted  shoddy,  that  coun- 
terfeits broadcloth  in  the  tailor's  show-room  and  goes 
to  pieces  on  the  first  rainy  day  of  wear.  In  the  city 
of  God,  merchandise  will  be  made  for  use  and  not 
merely  for  sale.  Men  will  cease  to  be  hirelings;  they 
will  learn  to  appreciate  that  work  well  done  is  sacred 
and  that  it  is  the  primary  manifestation  of  good  cit- 
izenship. 

Another  thought.  The  City  of  God  is  the  city  of 
homes.  Home,  like  the  heaven  which  it  should  re- 
semble, may  be  defined  as  a  state  of  mind  rather  than 
a  mere  place.  It  stands  for  family  affection,  for  the 
prattling  of  merry  children,  for  intercourse  with 
friends;  it  stands  also  for  fellowship  with  our  books, 
for  quiet  thought,  for  refreshment  of  spirit.  Darby 
and  Joan  should  be  hospitable  so  far  as  their  means 
allow  and  an  occasional  evening's  diversion  at  a  play, 
a  concert,  or  a  friend's  house  will  do  them  a  world  of 
good.  But  gadabouts  they  will  not  be ;  if  their  wedded 
life  is  worthy  of  the  name,  most  of  their  leisure  will 
be  spent  together  at  home.  And  opportunities  for 
solitude  are  also  advisable.  It  is  good  for  man  to  be 
alone  now  and  then — and  for  woman  also — pro- 
vided the  loneliness  be  sweet-tempered  and  not  too 
prolonged.  But  solitude  is  a  luxury  beyond  the  reach 
of  most  people,  especially  in  great  cities  where  rents 
are  so  heavy.  Home  life  in  a  tenement  house  is  as- 
suredly home  life  under  difficulties.  What  is  a  com- 


146    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

mon  result?  The  wife  is  often  left  behind  to  look 
after  small  children,  whilst  her  husband  spends  his 
evenings  elsewhere,  sometimes  in  doubtful  surround- 
ings. School  boys  and  school  girls  are  at  play  in  the 
streets,  where  they  are  exposed  to  many  bad  in- 
fluences. When  they  become  a  little  older,  they  pa- 
rade the  brightly  lighted  thoroughfares,  they  are  to  be 
found  in  dancing  halls,  at  the  "movies" — anywhere, 
to  escape  from  the  close  atmosphere  and  confined  sur- 
roundings of  the  home.  Boys'  and  girls'  Clubs,  eve- 
ning schools,  public  libraries,  settlement  houses,  all 
do  their  best  to  attract  these  wandering  spirits,  but 
only  with  partial  success,  and,  in  any  case,  the  har- 
monious development  of  character  requires  home  in- 
fluence besides  that  exerted  by  outside  institutions. 
I  have  said  that  home  is  a  state  of  mind;  but  it  must 
be  remembered  that  states  of  mind  are  affected  by  ex- 
ternal conditions.  The  home  life  of  a  city  will  not  be 
satisfactory,  unless  the  people  be  well  housed.  I  will 
not  discuss  how  this  is  to  be  brought  about,  whether 
by  the  erection  of  municipal  buildings,  by  increased 
facilities  of  cheap  and  rapid  transit,  by  the  removal  of 
factories  to  the  suburbs,  or  by  the  creation  of  garden 
cities.  But  assuredly  all  religious  agencies  must 
preach  the  doctrine  of  divine  discontent  with  bad  hous- 
ing conditions  as  with  all  forms  of  evil.  We  must  not 
assume  that  any  abuse  is  inevitable;  let  us  rather  be- 
stir ourselves  to  get  rid  of  it. 

Poverty  is  not  the  only  enemy  of  home  life,  nor  the 
worst.  Dissatisfaction  with  quiet  surroundings,  love 
of  glare  and  glitter,  restless  pursuit  of  pleasure  and 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  147 

excitement  are  not  confined  to  any  single  section  of 
society,  but  they  claim  most  victims  from  the  well- 
to-do,  who  can  afford  to  gratify  the  caprice  of  every 
moment.  The  worst  enemy  of  home-life  is  self-in- 
dulgence, which  prevents  marriages,  renders  them  un- 
fruitful, and  destroys  conjugal  affection.  Nor  do  I 
refer  only  to  the  grosser  forms  of  self-indulgence,  to 
which  the  gambler,  the  drunkard  or  the  libertine  re- 
sorts. Respectable  self-indulgence  is  almost  equally 
anti-social.  The  stability  of  the  home  and  its  very 
existence  are  in  jeopardy  because  of  the  high  stand- 
ard of  comfort,  which  modern  men  and  women  are 
taught  to  regard  as  their  due.  The  bachelor  and  the 
bachelor  girl  often  refuse  to  submit  to  the  loss  of 
freedom,  which  marriage  involves  and  to  the  still 
greater  restrictions  upon  their  comfort,  which  the 
sweet  burden  of  children  imposes.  Hence  results  the 
present  underfertility  of  Western  nations,  which  con- 
stitutes so  grave  a  menace  to  our  civilization.  Many 
palliatives  have  been  proposed,  but  there  is  no  real 
remedy,  except  in  the  growth  of  better  ideals.  We 
must  learn  to  set  a  higher  value  upon  home  life  and 
upon  the  duty  we  owe  to  our  race  and  to  humanity. 
This  truth  was  realized  in  Jewish  households  of  old; 
it  must  be  taught  anew  if  the  City  of  God  is  to  come 
into  being. 

Amongst  the  noblest  triumphs  of  modern  times  are 
those  achieved  in  the  fight  against  disease.  Advance 
in  medical  science  has  placed  many  powerful  weapons 
of  precision  in  the  hand  of  our  physicians.  Sufferers 
from  acute  and  dangerous  diseases,  however  poor  they 


148    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

may  be,  receive  skilled  attention  in  hospitals,  splen- 
didly equipped  and  staffed.  Still  more  far-reaching 
perhaps  is  the  increased  regard  for  sanitation,  through 
which  disease  is  prevented.  The  great  cities  of  the 
world  have  been  provided  with  good  water  supplies, 
that  not  only  satisfy  present-day  needs  but  also  an- 
ticipate the  requirements  of  posterity.  Laws  have  been 
passed  for  the  prevention  of  sanitary  defects  in  work- 
shops and  dwellings,  for  the  removal  of  house  refuse, 
for  the  abatement  of  overcrowding.  Building  regu- 
lations have  been  devised  to  diminish  the  risk  of  fire 
and  of  accident  and  to  prevent  the  occupation  of  tene- 
ments, where  sunlight  cannot  penetrate.  The  sale  of 
unsound  meat,  of  decayed  fruit,  of  cakes  made  with 
rotten  eggs,  of  milk  adulterated  with  water  or  doctored 
with  preservatives,  has  been  made  an  offense  against 
the  law.  These  and  similar  measures  not  only  bring 
about  material  improvement,  but  they  constitute  a 
moral  advance.  It  is  true  that  mixed  motives  have 
been  operative  and  that  some  sanitary  precautions 
have  been  dictated  by  enlightened  self-interest.  When 
my  neighbor's  house  is  afire,  mine  also  is  in  danger. 
When  his  house  is  badly  drained,  the  filth  disease 
which  attacks  his  child  may  quickly  spread  to  the  in- 
mates of  my  home.  By  taking  care  of  my  neighbor's 
health  I  realize  that  I  may  preserve  my  own.  But 
nobler  forces  are  also  at  work.  We  feel  increasingly 
that  good  health  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  civic 
and  national  assets.  The  public  conscience  is  more 
sensitive  than  in  the  past;  taught  by  science  that 
much  disease  is  preventable,  we  ask  why  it  is  not  pre- 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  149 

vented.  Hence  we  see  about  us  signs  of  much  earnest 
sanitary  effort,  legislative,  administrative  and  philan- 
thropic. Very  notable  is  the  modern  struggle  against 
tuberculosis,  which  has  been  undertaken  with  so  much 
energy  both  by  public  and  private  agencies,  many 
Jewish  bodies  being  prominent  amongst  the  latter. 
Another  fine  effort  is  that  taken  in  many  lands  to  di- 
minish the  terrible  scourge  of  infant  mortality,  the 
greater  part  of  which  is  absolutely  unnecessary. 
Supervision  of  the  milk  supply,  the  provision  of  suit- 
able nourishment  for  child  or  nursing  mother,  the  es- 
tablishment of  milk  stations  where  babies  are  fed, 
where  they  are  periodically  examined,  and  where  they 
receive  medical  treatment  if  necessary,  the  prohibi- 
tion of  women's  employment  for  some  time  before  and 
after  child-birth,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  amongst 
nursing  and  expectant  mothers, — all  these  expedients 
have  been  adopted  with  good  results  in  one  country 
or  another  and  the  rate  of  infant  mortality,  which  long 
remained  stationary,  is  now  decreasing.  Yet  it  is  still 
far  too  high ;  English  statisticians  show  us  that  "even 
an  old  man  of  84  has  a  better  chance  of  living  another 
week  than  has  the  new  born  baby."  Such  success  as 
has  been  attained  must  spur  us  forward  to  further 
efforts. 

Of  public  health  work,  in  general,  the  same  may  be 
said.  It  is  still  in  its  early  stages  and  present  achieve- 
ments must  be  regarded  as  but  the  earnest  of  future 
results.  The  scientific  methods  of  town-planning, 
which  have  been  adopted  in  some  German  cities,  must 
be  made  universal,  so  that  existing  insanitary  areas 


150    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

may  be  quickly  remodelled  and  the  growth  of  new 
ones  prevented.  The  smoke  nuisance  must  be  abated 
in  our  manufacturing  centres, — a  reform  already  ef- 
fected in  Nottingham,  where  the  nature  of  the  staple 
local  industry  requires  it,  and  possible  everywhere 
else,  provided  that  the  public  health  be  considered  as 
worth  paying  for.  And  matters  still  more  elementary 
must  receive  attention.  Houses,  built  back  to  back 
without  through  ventilation,  (such  as  abound  in 
Leeds)  must  be  demolished.  No  urban  dwelling  must 
be  licensed  for  occupation,  unless  it  be  provided  with 
a  separate  water-supply  and  a  water-closet,  automatic- 
ally flushed.  Bath-rooms  must  no  longer  be  a  luxury 
of  the  well-to-do;  they  will  perhaps  first  come  into 
general  use  in  the  schools  as  an  adjunct  of  physical 
education,  but  soon  they  must  be  found  in  the  home 
of  every  working  man.  Food  products,  exposed  for 
sale,  must  be  standardized.  And,  to  carry  our  antici- 
pations slightly  further  forward,  the  slaughter  house, 
with  its  degrading  concomitants,  will  be  improved 
out  of  existence,  so  that  the  Jewish  conception  of  holi- 
ness, as  partly  resting  on  a  physical  basis,  may  justify 
itself  in  a  modernized  and  rational  form.  One  other 
forecast  of  the  future  may  be  put  forward  with  con- 
fidence. If  any  real  progress  is  to  be  made,  sanitary 
legislation  will  keep  in  step  with  the  forward  march 
of  the  sanitary  conscience.  Good  health  laws  are  val- 
ueless unless  they  are  well  administered  and  contin- 
uous good  administration  by  a  public  authority  is  im- 
possible, unless  this  sanitary  conscience  be  rendered 
sensitive  and  well-informed.  To  promote  this  result  is 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  151 

a  worthy  task  for  the  church  universal.     The  City  of 
God  will  guard  the  health  of  its  people. 

Is  the  present  social  order  to  continue  in  the  beau- 
tiful City  that  is  to  be,  or  will  the  world  be  reorganized 
on  a  collectivist  basis?  I  do  not  know  and  I  will  not 
attempt  to  prophesy.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  very 
foolish  to  talk  about  the  events  of  the  future,  as  though 
they  were  predestined.  The  future  will  be  what  it 
is  made  by  mankind, — above  all,  by  those  sections  of 
mankind,  who,  having  brains  and  insight,  use  these 
gifts  aright.  Some  of  these  leaders  of  men  will  be 
supporters  of  things  as  they  more  or  less  are ;  others 
will  be  preachers  of  social  revolution.  Victory  may 
incline  this  way  or  that,  but  one  thing  is  certain.  The 
preservation  of  social  peace  can  only  be  secured,  if 
those  at  the  head  of  affairs  possess  wisdom,  good  feel- 
ing and  foresight.  The  established  order  of  things 
holds  the  field  and  has  behind  it  the  tradition  of  in- 
evitability, that  counts  for  so  much  with  the  mass  of 
men.  Fundamental  changes  do  not  usually  gain  ac- 
ceptance, except  as  a  means  of  escape  from  intolerable 
corruptions.  The  opponents  of  socialism  hold,  there- 
fore, a  position  of  strategic  advantage,  provided  they 
redress  the  people's  serious  grievances  before  the  tidal 
wave  of  revolution  sweeps  away  them  and  their  cause. 
For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  many  a  measure  of  social 
reform  is  overdue  not  in  one  country  but  in  all.  Un- 
rest, dangerous  and  well-grounded,  exists  today 
amongst  the  workers  of  the  world.  The  unemployed 
are  to  be  found  in  all  large  cities  and  so  are  the  under- 
paid, the  overworked,  the  prematurely  superannuated. 


152    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Wages  increase,  but  the  cost  of  living  increases  more, 
so  that  the  workman  is  worse  off  than  he  was  in  the 
nineties  of  the  last  century.  Men  are  forced  to  work 
under  dangerous  conditions,  because  manufacturers 
fail  to  spend  enough  money  on  their  machinery  and 
plant.  The  profits  do  not  permit  it,  they  explain.  It 
is  no  wonder  that  a  growing  feeling  of  exasperation 
is  abroad,  which  is  certainly  not  diminished  by  the 
spectacle,  visible  to  every  workman,  of  luxury  in  which 
it  is  very  unlikely  that  he  will  ever  participate.  In  so 
far  as  this  exasperation  is  based  upon  mere  envy,  the 
workman  may  come  to  recognize  its  futility,  whether 
through  the  force  of  reason  or  the  logic  of  events.  But, 
more  often  than  not,  he  does  well  to  be  angry,  for  he 
is  not  receiving  his  due.  Society  must  recognize,  as 
Mr.  Victor  Hartshorn,  the  leader  of  the  South  Wales 
Miners,  has  well  said,  "that  the  claim  of  the  worker  to 
a  sufficiency  of  food  and  clothing  and  a  fuller  life  is 
just,  and  that  it  must  be  made  the  first  charge  upon 
the  wealth  produced.  It  must  be  a  fixed  and  certain 
minimum  standard  of  comfort"1  If  the  present  order 
of  Society  can  do  justice  to  the  worker,  it  will  justify 
its  own  existence;  otherwise,  its  ultimate  doom  is 
sealed. 

We  look  forward  therefore  to  an  age  of  social  re- 
construction although  not  necessarily  to  one  of  sen- 
sational changes.  Such  an  age  will  come  in  peace,  if 
all  classes  of  society  act  with  forbearance  and  good 
feeling.  The  poor  man  must  not  be  impatient,  because 


What  the  Worker  Wants  (The  Daily  Mail  Enquiry,)  p.  99 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  153 

ancient  abuses  are  not  remedied  by  a  single  stroke  of 
the  legislative  pen.  The  rich  man,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  will  be  called  upon  to  surrender  some  of  his 
privileges  and  superfluities  for  the  benefit  of  his  poorer 
brethren  must  learn  to  do  so  with  dignity  and  cheer- 
fulness. The  establishment  of  a  minimum  wage  in  all 
industries  is  one  of  labor's  most  reasonable  demands. 
It  will  involve  a  loss  of  profit  to  many  employers  and 
perhaps  put  a  few  of  them  out  of  business.  But  sub- 
mit they  must  to  a  measure,  which  is  so  just  and  so 
generally  beneficial.  Again,  the  requirements  of  so- 
cial reform  will  necessitate  successive  additions  to  tax- 
ation, the  burden  of  which  must  be  imposed  on  the 
shoulders  best  able  to  bear  it.  As  we  form  a  wider 
conception  of  public  duty  we  learn  that  social  better- 
ment is  a  corporate  obligation,  to  which  each  of  us 
must  contribute  a  share,  proportional  to  his  ability. 
Many  departments  of  social  service  will  be  organized 
on  so  large  a  scale,  that  they  could  never  be  covered 
by  private  philanthropy.  The  country,  the  State,  the 
city  must  spare  neither  labor  nor  treasure  to  deal  with 
the  problems  of  unemployment,  of  pauperism,  of  ed- 
ucational imperfections,  of  disease,  in  a  broad  and 
statesmanlike  spirit.  Here  again  there  is  ample  room 
for  church  and  synagogue  to  exert  their  influence. 
They  must  impress  their  congregations  with  a  sense 
of  responsibility  for  the  well-being  of  others  and  warn 
them  against  the  besetting  sin  of  selfishness.  Such 
teaching  must  not  be  expressed  in  vague  generalities; 
it  must  be  applied  to  the  living  issues  of  today.  We 
have  too  many  preachers,  whose  practice  if  not  their 


154    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

theory,     coincides     with     the     tactful     sentiment     of 
D  O'Phase,  Esquire  in  the  Biglow  Papers: 

I'm  willin'  a  man  should  go  tollable  strong 
Agin  wrong  in  the  abstract,  fer  thet  kind  o'  wrong 
Is  oilers  unpop'lar  an'  never  gits  pitied, 
Because  it's  a  crime  no  one  never  committed; 
But  he  mustn't  be  hard  on  partickler  sins, 
Coz  then  he'll  be  kickin'  the  people's  own  shins. 
Without  turning  his  pulpit  into  a  party  platform,  the 
preacher  must  deal  fearlessly  with  the  moral  issues, 
that  are  involved  in  public  questions,  and  he  must 
press  forward  the  claims  of  social  justice.    About  cer- 
emonies and  abstract  doctrines  religious  bodies  may 
agree  to  differ;  here  is  a  grand  field  of  work,  to  be 
shared  in  common. 

But  we  are  not  to  rely  exclusively  upon  municipal 
and  political  effort  for  the  regeneration  of  mankind. 
In  the  past,  much  more  has  been  done  for  human  bet- 
terment by  voluntary  beneficence  than  by  the  State. 
The  history  of  Jewish  charity  confirms  this  conclu- 
sion, so  far  as  it  concerns  our  own  people.  In  Chris- 
tendom, charity  has  covered  the  globe  with  countless 
institutions  of  mercy;  in  past  times,  it  not  only  re- 
lieved poverty  and  distress,  but  it  founded  schools  and 
colleges,  it  built  bridges  and  reclaimed  waste  land. 
It  is  true  that  the  function  of  charity  changes  from 
time  to  time.  Many  services,  formerly  in  the  hands  of 
charitable  bodies  have  been  transferred  to  public  man- 
agement in  order  that  they  may  be  discharged  on  a 
larger  scale.  The  early  history  of  the  English  Poor- 
law,  after  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  illus- 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  155 

trates  the  nature  of  the  process;  so  does  the  develop- 
ment of  English  elementary  education,  which  is  no 
longer  financed  to  any  great  extent  by  voluntary  sub- 
scriptions. In  every  form  of  social  work,  the  volun- 
tary principle  is  most  readily  applicable  to  its  earlier 
or  experimental  stages:  when  operations  are  widely 
extended,  support  from  public  funds  may  become  es- 
sential and  the  demand  for  public  control  insistent. 
But  we  are  far  removed  from  the  time,  if  such  a  time 
will  ever  come,  when  the  voluntary  principle  in  organ- 
ized social  service  will  be  entirely  superseded.  As  for 
social  service — not  organized,  but  spontaneously  ren- 
dered in  the  hour  of  need — that  will  always  continue, 
whatever  political  or  economic  changes  there  may  be ; 
its  disappearance  would  make  the  world  a  cheerless 
waste. 

Good  philanthropic  workers  are  hard  to  find  for  more 
reasons  than  one.  Patience,  efficiency  and  enthusiasm 
are  all  needed  and  the  conjunction  of  these  qualities 
is  not  very  common.  It  is  also  to  be  lamented  that 
men  and  women  of  admirable  zeal  for  social  reform 
often  refuse  to  undertake  charitable  work  or  give  it 
up  after  a  trial.  Sometimes  their  objections  are  di- 
rected against  the  incompetence  of  charitable  agencies. 
They  complain  of  societies,  so  swathed  in  red-tape, 
that  an  applicant  for  relief  suffers  long  delay ;  and  they 
complain  of  others,  so  lavish  and  unbusinesslike  in 
their  methods,  that  imposture  is  positively  encouraged. 
But  criticism,  so  destitute  of  constructiveness,  does 
not  take  us  far.  The  charges  made  against  our  char- 
ities, are  indeed  true  in  part.  Social  service  is  imper- 


156    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

feet,  because  it  is  carried  on  by  human  instruments, 
themselves  imperfect.  To  cut  off  the  supply  of  good 
social  workers  will  not  mend  matters;  we  want  more 
such  workers  than  ever  before.  An  argument,  which 
sounds  more  serious,  is  that  which  condemns  charity 
as  being  essentially  bad,  because  it  renders  the  poor 
dependent  upon  the  bounty  of  the  rich  and  unwilling 
to  fight  for  their  rights.  Better  therefore,  it  is  some- 
times said,  to  throw  our  energies  into  political  and 
municipal  work, — to  agitate  for  better  legislation  or  to 
secure  a  better  administration  of  the  laws  that  already 
exist.  But  this  argument  also  is  fallacious.  It  is  only 
too  true  that  charity  is  sometimes  put  forward  as  a 
substitute  for  social  justice ;  we  must  never  tire  of 
denying  this  false  and  mischievous  claim.  It  does  not 
follow,  however,  that  charity  is  in  itself  injurious;  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  indispensable.  A  better  social  order 
may  be  established  in  the  future,  but  this  very  day  the 
destitute  must  be  fed,  the  sick  must  be  tended,  the  sad 
must  be  comforted,  those  ready  to  fall  must  be  saved 
from  temptation.  It  is  good  to  sow  the  seed  that  will 
yield  a  bountiful  harvest  hereafter,  but  the  needs  of 
the  present  must  not  be  ignored. 

Another  reason  for  magnifying  the  office  of  the  so- 
cial worker  must  not  be  forgotten.  Political  agitation 
has  one  dangerous  defect  of  its  qualities.  Almost  in- 
evitably it  is  conducted  with  bitterness.  "Hate  the  sin, 
but  not  the  sinner,"  said  Beruria  to  her  husband.  This 
advice  is  habitually  disregarded  in  the  heat  of  contro- 
versy. The  socialist  does  not  confine  himself  to  the 
denunciation  of  capitalism,  but  he  is  apt  to  draw  a 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  157 

picture,  lurid,  provocative  and  necessarily  unfair,  of 
the  individual  capitalist.  Speakers  and  writers,  who 
appeal  to  capitalist  sympathies,  are  often  equally  un- 
fair ;  some  of  the  leading  English  and  American  news- 
papers are  at  their  worst  when  they  discuss  labor  ques- 
tions. These  unfair  attacks,  so  harmful  both  in  their 
direct  effects  and  in  their  indirect  influence,  are  de- 
livered in  the  heat  of  controversy ;  but  they  would 
be  impossible  except  for  the  mutual  ignorance  which 
divides  class  from  class.  The  old  patriarchal  rela- 
tionship between  master  and  man  is  almost  a  thing 
of  the  past;  the  vast  industrial  concerns  of  today  are 
joined  with  their  workmen  by  the  cash  nexus  only. 
Rich  and  poor  reside  far  apart  from  each  other  in 
different  sections  of  our  cities;  half  the  world  has 
but  a  distorted  idea  of  how  the  other  half  lives.  And 
so  arises  class  antagonism,  which  may  grow  into  a 
menace  to  society  and  into  a  hindrance  to  social  re- 
construction on  the  best  and  surest  foundations.  The 
social  worker  should  be  a  beneficent  missionary,  who 
bridges  over  the  gulf  that  divides  class  from  class. 
Valuable  service  of  this  nature  has  been  rendered  by 
social  settlements,  now  numerous  in  large  cities,  where 
the  democratic  spirit  and  the  sense  of  good  fellow- 
ship are  so  pronounced. 

Political  and  social  reform  are  good.  Blessed  also 
is  charity,  especially  remedial  and  preventive  charity. 
But  more  is  needed  to  build  up  the  City  of  God.  We 
must  deal  with  the  causes  of  evil,  tracing  it  back  to 
its  stronghold,  which  is  the  heart  of  man.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  moral  regeneration,  all  progress  is  illusory. 


158    LIBERAL  JUDAISM  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Improved  environment  and  improved  character  are 
both  essential  factors  in  human  progress,  for  they  act 
and  react  upon  one  another;  but  the  greater  of  these 
is  character.  "Man  will  return  to  his  idols  and  his 
cupidities  in  spite  of  all  revolutions,  until  his  nature  is 
changed."  (G.  B.  S.)  If  a  man  is  to  inherit  the  King- 
dom, he  must  become  superman — not  Nietsche's  super- 
man, ruthless  and  selfish,  but  a  superman  who  devotes 
his  high  power  to  the  service  of  his  fellows.  True  that 
perfection  in  the  individual  or  in  the  social  order  is 
unattainable;  as  we  approach  the  mountain-top,  fresh 
vistas  open  before  our  gaze.  Yet  we  must  seek  after 
perfection,  "weary  but  pursuing." 

We  have  now  thought  out  some  characteristics  of 
the  ideal  city.  It  will  be  a  place  of  honest  labor  and 
strong  corporate  life,  where  each  of  the  citizens  will 
prize  his  own  home  and  will  endeavor  to  bring  light 
and  happiness  into  the  homes  of  others.  But  our  pic- 
ture is  still  imperfect,  for  our  thoughts  have  not  dwelt 
on  the  force,  which  can  alone  bring  these  things  to 
pass.  "Except  the  Lord  keep  the  city,  the  watchman 
awaketh  but  in  vain."  Without  faith  in  eternal  right- 
eousness, without  the  indwelling  of  the  divine  Spirit, 
we  can  do  nothing.  The  danger  against  which  we 
must  fight  is  not  the  theoretical  unbelief  of  today,  but 
its  practical  ungodliness.  As  Dr.  Fairbairn  has  well 
said,  "The  worst  denial  is  not  the  denial  of  the  name 
of  God,  but  of  the  reign  of  God,  and  His  reign  is  de- 
nied whenever  men  confess  that  He  is,  but  live  as  if 
He  had  no  kingdom,  no  law  to  govern  the  individual, 
to  be  incorporated  or  realized  in  the  society  or  in  the 


THE  CITY  OF  GOD  159 

State."    The  religion  which  saves  is  the  religion  which 
sanctifies  all  the  actions  and  thoughts  of  man. 

And  for  the  Jew,  religion  spells  Judaism.  Through- 
out its  long  history,  Judaism  has  guided  Israel  along 
the  path  of  social  righteousness  and  its  potentialities 
remain  unexhausted.  This  is  an  age  of  reconstruction 
for  all  historic  religions  and  our  own  faith  is  not  ex- 
empt from  the  same  necessity.  We  must  teach  the 
masses  of  our  people,  upon  whom  the  Judaism  of  yes- 
terday has  lost  hold,  that  their  salvation  lies  in  Liberal 
Judaism,  which  is  beginning  to  find  itself  today  and 
which  will  become  the  Judaism  of  tomorrow. 


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